Sega will adapt its “Shinobi” video game series for the cinema

(Keystone-ATS) The Japanese Sega announced on Wednesday a film adaptation of its famous “Shinobi” series. To this end, the video game publisher will collaborate with Universal Pictures, already behind the successful film “Super Mario Bros”.

Released for the first time in 1987 in arcades, the game Shinobi, featuring a modern-day ninja making his way using shuriken (traditional throwing weapon) in levels filled with enemies, was known numerous adaptations and sequels on computers and consoles. A new video game in the series was announced at the end of 2023.

Regarding the film, “the development of a cinematographic production on the +Shinobi+ games has begun,” Sega wrote in a press release, without specifying a release schedule. The feature film will be directed by Sam Hargrave (“Extraction” films on Netflix) and produced in particular by Marc Platt (“La La Land”, “Babylon”) for Universal Pictures, who “expects the film follows the success” of “Super Mario Bros. », According to the Sega press release.

The adventures of Nintendo’s mustachioed plumber on the big screen ranked second at the global box office in 2023. Sega itself had already adapted the adventures of its star blue hedgehog into the cinema in “Sonic, the Movie”, and the series “Like a Dragon: Yakuza”, inspired by its video games set in the world of the Japanese mafia, must be broadcast on Amazon Prime Video from October 24.

Video games have been on the rise in cinemas in recent years: after its 2023 hit, Nintendo is working on a new film “Super Mario Bros. » for 2026 and is also working on a theatrical adaptation of its Zelda franchise. For its part, the American video game publisher Electronic Arts confirmed last month that it wanted to bring “The Sims” to the big screen.

Several series adapted from video games have also been very successful recently, such as “The Last of Us” and “Fallout”, and an adaptation of “Tomb Raider” is also in preparation.