Despite its modest $30 million budget and a bout of negative reviews from film critics the world over, the original big-screen adaptation of Eidos Interactive's Hitman grossed about $100 million at the box office. This figure certainly proved good enough to 20th Century Fox, which has already begun work on a sequel. Now, according to Deadline New York, Fox has hired Spanish director Daniel Benmayor to direct Agent 47's next Hollywood adventure.

　　Benmayor is a Barcelona-born NYU grad who started out making commercials for Sony PlayStation, Renault, and Samsung. His feature film debut was the Spanish language action film Paintball. Hitman 2 will be the young director's Hollywood debut. It's worth noting that the original Hitman film also had a relatively unknown director at the helm, Xavier Gens.

　　Hitman 2 the film will reportedly be based on Hitman 5 the game.

　　The question of whether Hitman star Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood, Live Free or Die Hard) will return in the lead role still remains unanswered--at this stage all that is known of the production is that Kyle Ward's original script has been redrafted by TV writer Daniel Casey.

　　Deadline reports the sequel will include elements from the upcoming Hitman 5 game, which still has no release window. Apparently, the film's plot will follow a downtrodden Agent 47 as he tries to return to his former assassin glory.

　　It appears Hollywood is rife with game adaptation scripts, following the recent news that Legendary Pictures has signed on to make a Mass Effect movie. There is also a World of Warcraft film to be directed by Sam Raimi; a telefilm based on THQ's Red Faction games; a new Mortal Kombat film from Warner Bros; and even a Rollercoaster Tycoon movie in the works.