It’s not just Sonic the Hedgehog that’s attracting attention. According to Deadline, Universal will also adapt another Sega game franchise, Shinobi, into a movie, with Sam Hargrave as the director.
Ken Kobayashi, known from Sunny and Move On, is working on a script adaptation for the arcade game that was first released in 1987.
1. Sega Shinobi Game Adaptation into a Movie
This suspenseful game tells the story of Joe Musashi, a modern-day ninja who fights against great evil. The Shinobi series has spawned 14 games, including spin-offs and ported versions, with sales totaling 5 million copies worldwide.
Marc Platt and Adam Siegel will produce the film through Marc Platt Productions, in collaboration with Dmitri M. Johnson of Story Kitchen, and Toru Nakahara for Sega. Mike Goldberg will serve as executive producer alongside Timothy I. Stevenson, who is also involved in the production.
As of now, there is no information regarding the movie’s release date. Interestingly, this announcement also includes the assurance that the latest game series they announced in late 2023 is still in the works, and more information will be shared in the future.
2. Sam Hargrave to Direct
The film will hopefully continue the positive trend of video game adaptations released by Universal in 2023, such as Nintendo’s Illumination and The Super Mario Bros Movie, and Blumhouse’s Five Nights at Freddy’s. Each of these films earned more than $1.4 billion and $290 million at the global box office, respectively.
Universal has chosen Sam Hargrave to direct this project. Hargrave himself has successfully directed Netflix ‘s Extraction franchise through two films. The first film became the most-watched original movie in Netflix history, attracting more than 99 million viewers in its first four weeks.
Meanwhile, the sequel managed to become the No. 1 movie on Netflix in 90 countries, and the first movie also regained the top spot at No. 2. Both movies managed to stay in the top two spots for two consecutive weeks.
His upcoming projects include Matchbox for Mattel Films and Skydance, and Kill Them All which is currently in development at Paramount Pictures.
