New ''Oni'' Film and Video Game Announced
Koei announces the first of a series of multimedia projects based upon an epic film developed by the late Akira Kurosawa.

by | October 28, 2004

Koei has announced plans to create a new film and video game based on the popular Japanse film, Oni, developed by the late director Akira Kurosawa. Koei will be collaborating with Kou Shibusawa Production and Kurosawa Production to expand the film's scope into a variety of genres and media. Notably, the companies will spearhead their forthcoming projections beginning with video game development. According to the announcement, the digital edition of Kurosawa’s legendary film will be developed for the next generation successor to the PlayStation 2 console. Koei is planning for a simultaneous theatrical and video game release of Oni sometime in 2006.

Oni is an action film set in the warring period of the 16th century. The story centers around a blonde-haired samurai warrior who ultimately must discover his own destiny. Fans will undoubtedly recognize familiar themes which transcend to other Akira Kurosawa works, such as Seven Samurai and The Hidden Fortress.

The project - including film production, video game development - has a total production budget of 3 billion yen. Film revenues, video game are projected to be 10 billion yen worldwide. Koei is developing other media, including cellular phone content, character merchandise, music, portraits, and books, in anticipating of Oni's release.