Shinobi movie on the way

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Mindfire Entertainment--the studio currently working on the House of the Dead movie due out next summer--has acquired the movie and television rights to Sega's Shinobi franchise. The Shinobi movie is planned to have a $40 million budget and to be released in the summer of 2004. The script is currently in development.

The report mentions that Sega is starting to work on a PS2 sequel to Shinobi and that Mindfire is working closely with the developers so that the movie and sequel's stories work together.

The Shinobi PlayStation 2 game is scheduled for a US release next week. For more details, check out our previous coverage of the game.