With blockbuster hits like The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Sonic The Hedgehog dominating the box office, and The Last Of Us and Fallout earning critical praise on television, the stock in video game adaptations has never been higher. Even Minecraft is gearing up for a cinematic debut! Now, according to Deadline, Universal and Sega are aiming to capitalize on this genre boom with a live-action adaptation of the classic ninja hack-and-slash game, Shinobi. Adding to the excitement, Extraction director Sam Hargrave is set to helm the project.
The Shinobi series, which chronicles modern-day ninja Joe Musashi's battles against evil forces, has been a coveted IP in Hollywood for years. With 14 mainline and spin-off entries to its name and another on the horizon, the franchise has long been on the radar of film producers. As early as 2014, Sega was exploring ways to bring the series to the big screen, and in 2016, producer Marc Platt struck a deal with the gaming giant to develop a Musashi-centered movie. Now, Platt is poised to fulfill that agreement as his production company teams up with Universal to bring Shinobi to life under Hargrave's direction, with a screenplay by Sunny and Hit-Monkey writer Ken Kobayashi.
For Hargrave, this announcement comes shortly after he was tapped to direct Mattel's Matchbox movie with John Cena. Meanwhile, for Sega, the news of another classic game getting a blockbuster makeover aligns perfectly with the upcoming release of Sonic The Hedgehog 3. While details about the Shinobi adaptation remain scarce, the prospect of Hargrave, known for his work on Extraction 2, spearheading a long-awaited revival of big-screen ninja movies—at least of a non-_Turtles_ variety—is enough to pique our curiosity and interest.
