The live-action Street Fighter movie currently in the works at Legendary Entertainment has landed a new director. Talk to Me directors Danny and Michael Philippou were previously attached to the project but left last summer for unknown reasons. The studio has now found a new director to replace them while the movie’s release date hasn’t moved out of March 2026.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Legendary has hired Kitao Sakurai, the writer, director and executive producer of the comedy series The Eric Andre Show, to direct the live-action Street Fighter movie. Given Sakurai’s absurd comedy style, it seems like Legendary and Capcom might be taking a less serious approach to the Street Fighter adaptation which is welcomed considering the game’s have pretty wacky elements too.
Hollywood has tried twice to make live-action Street Fighter movies. Back in 1994, the first adaptation released starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as Guile and the late, great Raul Julia as M. Bison. It initially launched to very poor reviews but over time, it had developed a cult following and its widely considered a classic today, to some extent.
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said about 2009’s Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, which starred Smallville‘s Kristin Kreuk as Chun-Li and Neal McDonough as M. Bison (truly one of the casting decisions of all time). It was a massive critical and commercial failure, burying the possibility of another live-action Street Fighter movie ever happening for over a decade.
The good news is fighting game movies are on the rise. Kind of. This year will see the release of Mortal Kombat 2, a sequel to 2021’s middling live-action Mortal Kombat movie. It’s currently being filmed with the plot being kept tightly under wraps. The movie recently released the first official poster showing a fake movie poster for Johnny Cage (played by Karl Urban).
The live-action Street Fighter movie is scheduled to release on 20 March 2026.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
