In a bit of unexpected news today, Universal Pictures has revealed that Sega is set to produce a movie based on its Shinobi series of games. What’s more, director Sam Hargrave, known for Netflix’s Extraction films, is set to direct. The news isn’t totally out of left field as Sega announced last December that it was creating new entries in a bunch of its legacy series, one being a new Shinobi.
Universal’s decision to go in on a video game adaptation was likely bolstered by last year’s success with The Super Mario Bros. Movie. After raking in $1.4 billion at the global box office, Universal likely understands the appeal that video games have for practically every demographic. Shinobi is a bit of a niche series nowadays, however, so it’s hard to say if Universal can replicate what Nintendo’s IP achieved.
The screenplay for this Shinobi film will be handled by Ken Kobayashi who is currently involved with the Apple TV+ series Sunny, which stars Rashida Jones. He also wrote 10 episodes for the Hulu Marvel series Hit-Monkey, which has practically flown under the radar. There’s no word on whether or not the story will be a direct adaptation of the original arcade game or some different modernization.
As for Hargrave, anyone that has watched Extraction 2 will know he can handle action cinematography. Both Extraction films have drawn massive numbers for Netflix, but the second film practically apes all other Hollywood productions from the same year. With him behind the camera, Shinobi is bound to at least have some quality action sequences.
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
