Onimusha

In May 2003, Paramount Pictures, Davis Films, and Gaga Productions announced its joint venture to adapt the action-adventure game series into a $50 million live-action feature film. According to Paramount Pictures and Davis Films' Samuel Hadida, "It's samurai fighting against demons - it's very close to this simple pitch. There's also a love story woven in. It's a big adventure movie with lots of special effects." Hadida also proposed the possibility of a film franchise. In December 2006, director Christophe Gans said that he had Onimusha lined up to film. The film, budgeted at over $70 million, will begin production in China in February 2008 for a December 2009 release. In a June Article by movie site Ain't It Cool News, it was revealed that Takeshi Kaneshiro will be in the movie, reprising his role as Samanosuke.

The Onimusha film has been put on indefinite hold due to the death of Heath Ledger, which impacted on the schedule of producer Samuel Hadida, who was due to work with Ledger on a new Terry Gilliam movie. Because that's been stopped, Hadida had to delay the filming of Onimusha, which has now thrown out the calendars of the film's Japanese cast, who are now all too busy working on other films to get started on Onimusha. These factors were enough that French director Christophe Gans will now direct an adaptation of Leo Perutz's novel "The Swedish Cavalier" first, taking over the reigns from Gilles Mimouni. Satomi Ishihara and Tsuyoshi Ihara remain attached to "Onimusha", no word on if they'll be let go.