Sega’s Classic ‘Shinobi’ Picked up for Adaptation by Universal Pictures

Sega is once again getting busy with its IPs, announcing a collaboration with Universal Pictures to develop a film adaptation based on their classic Shinobi franchise.

The movie will be directed by Sam Hargrave (Extraction franchise), with Ken Kobayashi (Sunny, Move On) adapting the screenplay Marc Platt and Adam Siegel will produce the film through Marc Platt Productions. Dmitri M. Johnson will produce through Story Kitchen, while Toru Nakahara will produce through Sega. Mike Goldberg will serve as executive producer alongside Timothy I. Stevenson, who is co-producing.

Details on the adaptation are still to come, but the basis of the Shinobi franchise started way back in 1987 in the arcades, where players assumed the role of Joe Musashi, a modern-day ninja who is out to stop the Zeed terrorist organization from kidnapping students of his clan. The success of the arcade game led to multiple entries in the series spanning multiple platforms, dabbling in horror themes with its characters and settings. The latest entry in the series was teased during The Game Awards back in 2023.

As mentioned, Shinobi isn’t the only Sega property getting a look from film and television. Apart from the obvious big one that’s into its third film with Sonic the Hedgehog, Golden Axe will be getting an animated series from Comedy Central, while Streets of Rage was picked up by Lionsgate in 2022, which will be directed by written and produced by Derek Kolstad (John Wick, Nobody), with many of the same players producing Shinobi.