SEGA, Universal Pictures Announced Shinobi Film Adaptation, Extraction's Sam Hargrave Set To Direct

Japanese publisher SEGA is readying itself for another video game to film adaptation as we fast approach the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 3 global film release in December 2024. The Japanese publisher is teaming up with Universal Pictures to adapt the hack-and-slash Shinobi gaming series into a live-action film, no confirmation if it will be a film series, in a new deal and has lined up a director and screenwriter to handle its treatment.

Extraction and Matchbox director Sam Hargrave has signed on board to helm the live-action Shinobi adaptation with screenwriter Ken Kobayashi, who is adapting the screenplay. The first Shinobi game, released in 1987 as an arcade game, spawned a franchise that has since seen 13 mainline and spin-off games released, including Alex Kidd in Shinobi World in 1990, with a 14th game announced during a reveal package at The Game Awards in 2023 with no follow-ups provided.

According to a report from Deadline, they revealed that Marc Platt and Adam Siegel are set to produce the Shinobi film through Platt's production company, Marc Platt Productions, alongside Story Kitchen's Dmitri M. Johnson and SEGA's Toru Nakahara. Mike Goldberg and Timothy I. Stevenson have been revealed to be executive producing the film, with Ryan Jones, Senior Vice President of Production Development, and Christine Sun, Director of Production Development, overseeing the Shinobi film for Universal Pictures.

It will likely be some time until we hear more about the Shinobi film adaptation, as Hargrave is currently developing a film for Mattel based on the popular car collecting series Matchbox and Kill Them All, which is in production at Paramount. Perhaps the American director is most known for the Chris Hemsworth-led Extraction and its sequel for Netflix, which became the most-watched Netflix original film within four weeks of its release with 99 million viewers.

Until then, SEGA will return to the big screens, bringing along some of its most iconic characters as Sonic the Hedgehog 3 hits cinemas globally from 20th December 2024. With a returning cast for the third installment, Sonic 3 welcomes Shadow the Hedgehog with Keanu Reeves confirmed to be voicing the character, but who knows which other Sonic characters may appear.