UK-based publisher Eidos has quite a few profitable and long-running franchises, like Tomb Raider or the more recent Kane and Lynch. But one of the most critically acclaimed is Hitman, which is being taken care of by IO Interactive.

The series became quite popular and has even seen a movie adaptation based remotely on the stories portrayed by the games. As it went on to become very profitable, the Hollywood executives decided to shoot a sequel for it, which received a release date for late 2010.

During that same time frame though, the next Hitman game is due to be out. Under the working title Hitman 5, there has been a lot of talk about this new game, which will star, once again, Agent 47. Given this coincidence of release frames, people wondered whether the game would borrow story elements from the movie or whether it would be the other way around.

Further fueling this speculation, a report from Variety revealed that the movie would “contain story elements from Hitman 5.” But don't get your hopes too high, as IO's community manager stated that “I can tell you that there is no way we will be basing a storyline for a new Hitman game on the story in a licensed movie. That's just not how we work so you shouldn't be concerned about that.”

So, there you have it, movie and game fans, Hitman will continue to exist in separate entities - as a movie and a video game series. Hopefully, we will be able to hold out until late 2010 when we get our dose of Hitman-based action, whether it is on our TV or on the movie screen.

Are you excited about the next Hitman project? Will you choose the video game or the movie? Or both? Leave us a comment with your choice.