New Street Fighter Movie Gets Two Directors To Step Into the Ring

In a little over a month, Capcom will have everyone’s attention with the release of Street Fighter 6. The game has spoken for itself since its grand reveal last year, and it’s looking more and more like Capcom’s got another hit on its hands between that and the Resident Evil 4 remake. But the fight doesn’t end there, as it turns out that a new theatrical movie for the fighting game franchise is in the works, and already has a pair of directors lined up.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, directors Michael and Danny Philippou will take the reigns of the upcoming Street Fighter movie. The twins are behind the upcoming July horror flick Talk to Me, and were brought on based on the apparent strength of that film during the festival circuit. Production company Legendary (who acquired the film/TV rights to the series earlier in the month) already has a shortlist of writers it’s considering to adapt the series, and it’s currently not clear what the take on the games will be, let alone who among the games’ stacked roster of characters will show up.

Street Fighter as a series is no stranger to the movies. The cult classic film released in 1994, with Ming-Na Wen and Jean-Claude Van Damme in starring roles along with Raul Julia in his final performance before his passing. 15 years later in 2009, there was The Legend of Chun-Li, which starred Kristin Kreuk and Taboo from the Black Eyed Peas, and was…not terribly liked. In fact, it’s considered one of the worst movies ever made and was a box office bomb.

Since then, Capcom has kept Street Fighter primarily locked to games and sometimes comics, though not for lack of trying. There was Street Fighter: Legacy short film from 2010 that was meant to set up more movies, and later led to the 2014 Assassin’s Fist webseries. Though that show’s second season was cancelled, it was followed up with a separate series, Street Fighter: Resurrection, in 2016.

With how much the series has changed in 2009 — from its characters and storyline to the overall general aesthetic — this new Street Fighter movie has plenty to pull from for inspiration. Hopefully it manages to capitalise on the momentum Capcom’s managed to build up with Street Fighter 6, and just lets the characters people like punch each other in the face for two hours.