Legendary Pictures, responsible for producing films such as Dune and Detective Pikachu, acquired the rights to produce films and series from the Street Fighter fighting game franchise.
The studio will work in partnership with Capcom on future projects that will bring the characters’ universe to theaters and TV.
Street Fighter is one of the top franchises in the gaming industry. It started with the arcade game of the same name in 1987 and conquered the world with the legendary Street Fighter II in 1991, which received several special editions.
So far, the saga has sold more than 49 million units and its next chapter, Street Fighter 6, will hit the market in June 2nd. Its charismatic characters, such as Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Guile and M. Bison, became popular with players, with special moves such as the Hadouken becoming legendary.
In the past, Hollywood has produced movies about the franchise. The first came out in 1994 by Universal. Titled Street Fighter – The Last Battle, it featured star Jean-Claude Van Damme as Guile, Kylie Minogue as Cammy, Ming-Na Wen as Chun-Li and the iconic Raul Julia in the role of villain Bison.
In 2009, Century Fox released Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li with Kristin Kreuk taking on the lead role. The film was a commercial failure and received harsh criticism from the specialized media and the public.
In recent years, video game adaptations are making waves with audiences. Among the most recent ones are the Sonic movies, the Uncharted movie and The Last of Us series on HBO, with Super Mario Bros. being the next on the list to hit theaters.
