The designer of Sonic the Hedgehog and the studio behind Dragon Ball are making a movie together

In what is sounding like a match made in heaven, Naoto Oshima, original designer of Sonic the Hedgehog, is making a film with Dragon Ball studio Toei Animation.

As reported by Variety, Hypergalactic is an upcoming CG animated film from Toei, with Oshima serving as co-creator alongside Joseph Chou. You might recognise Chou's name as the producer of Blade Runner: Black Out 2022, as well as the classic 90s anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, so immediately there are some strong names attached to the project. Oshima worked on both the story and characters, and it is set to be an English-language film, so David N. Weiss (Shrek 2, The Smurfs) is serving as director for the project.

Not only are some big names on the production side, but the cast is pretty stacked too: Adam Devine, best known for his role in the Pitch Perfect series, is joined by J.K. Simmons (Invincible, Spider-Man), Sam Richardson (Veep, I Think You Should Leave), and Elsie Fisher (Despicable Me). According to Variety, the film follows an adventurous teenage girl (Fisher), and her baby in the not-so-distant future, and the events that follow once they liberate the forgotten protector of earth, Ohkan (Devine).

Based on the teaser image that's been released with the announcement, which you can see above, it's looking like the film will be at least inspired by the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, which served as a big inspiration for the original Dragon Ball series. How that might play into the rest of the film's narrative, obviously remains to be seen.

Yoshi Ikezawa, main producer of the film, said in a statement that "with 'Hypergalactic,' the hugely talented game designer Oshima has created a multicultural adventure tale of epic scale - combining memorable global characters with a Japanese Anime aesthetic and a Western approach to storytelling. We look forward to delivering our brand of quality animation to broader global audiences beyond our existing loyal and committed fan base."

No release date was announced for Hypergalactic, so you'll just have to keep your eyes peeled.