Sega Video Game ‘Shinobi’ Sets Movie Adaptation With ‘Extraction’ Director, Universal Pictures

Universal Pictures is turning the Sega video game “Shinobi” into a feature film.

The studio has enlisted “Extraction” filmmaker Sam Hargrave and producer Marc Platt to adapt the hack-and-slash series for the big screen.

Plot details haven’t been confirmed but “Shinobi” follows protagonist Joe Musashi as a modern-day ninja who confronts evil. It debuted in 1987 as an arcade game and has evolved into a franchise that spans 14 sequels with over five million copies sold to date.

Universal has enjoyed recent success with video game adaptations, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” ($1.4 billion) and “Five Nights at Freddy’s” ($290 million). Meanwhile, Sega has scored with Paramount’s 2020 console-to-screen redux “Sonic the Hedgehog” ($319 million) and the 2022 sequel ($405 million). A third “Sonic” movie will be released in late 2024.

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Ken Kobayashi (“Sunny,” “Move On”) is writing the screenplay for “Shinobi.” Platt and Adam Siegel will produce through Marc Platt Productions. Dmitri M. Johnson will produce through Story Kitchen. Toru Nakahara will produce through Sega. Mike Goldberg will executive produce alongside co-producer Timothy I. Stevenson. Universal’s senior VP of production development Ryan Jones and director of production development Christine Sun will oversee the project for the studio.

Hargrave’s upcoming projects include “Matchbox” for Mattel Films and Skydance as well as “Kill Them All,” which is currently in development at Paramount Pictures. He is repped by WME and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman, Smelkinson & Christopher, LLP.

Kobayashi is repped by CAA, Redefine Entertainment and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole LLP. Marc Platt Productions is repped by Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris. Story Kitchen is repped by WME and Pryor Cashman. Toru Nakahara negotiated on behalf of Sega.