Back in the day, nothing was more surefire at the box office than the movie adaptation of a video game. The two mediums did not gel. That’s changed in recent years, and now gaming mascots of all kinds are getting a chance to appear in major movies, or at least streaming series. What’s a good example? Deadline reports that they are currently working on a movie based on Shinobi.
For the uninitiated, Shinobi is a famous hack and slash game developed by Sega where you play as a ninja. There have been many sequels over the years, but the basic story is pretty much the same. Ninja Joe Musashi has to defeat a lot of bad guys. That’s it.
In other words, it’s a blank canvas on which filmmakers can do just about anything they want without offending online lore-keepers. Sam Hargrave has been tapped by Universal to direct this film, which is actually a decent choice. He has made two Extraction movies and is currently working on a third. These are solid action flicks, and Shinobi is an action game.
Ken Kobayashi writes the screenplay after working on Apple+’s highly underrated Sunny. He also worked on “Moonfall” and the Marvel film adaptation “Hit-Monkey.” Sega’s Toru Nakahara, who produced the entire Sonic the Hedgehog movie universe, is also participating.
Shinobi is still in the early stages of development. It’s just like most shinobi players can only get past the early stages of the game because it’s so difficult. We don’t know when it will be released and there is no news regarding the cast. But Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is only a few months away from release. Keanu Reeves appears in that movie.
