The ideal Street Fighter movie that would be a surefire box office hit
Image from Capcom and Takashi Nishiyama
For those who are not aware, Street Fighter is more than a fighting video game from Capcom; it has become a household name. It is part of the vocabulary of countless people, and it is a permanent fixture of pop culture. This is a video game that has made the jump into various forms of entertainment, from cartoons, comics, action figures, trading card games, music, movies, and anything else you can imagine. Is that significant! There is no other versus game or fighting video game that has had the global impact, influence, and longevity that Capcom’s Street Fighter has had on the video gaming community and beyond. This is the video game that revolutionized the two-player versus system format for gamers and started an avalanche of imitators since its introduction as an arcade machine many decades ago, before it became available in households via various game consoles such as the SNES, Genesis, PlayStation, etc.
When you think of all the numerous titles of its genre that have been created, one can only think of Street Fighter as the pioneer, and without the said legendary video game, the landscape of video games would surely be different, missing something, and a void would exist in the video gaming community, and now, once more, Street Fighter is entering the realm of movies, and it was only a matter of time before that would happen again because millions of people have played and continue to play this fighting video game, so naturally, they would want to see their favorite fighters come to life on the big screen one more time, but hopefully, with better results this time.
I, for one, am not surprised that another live-action remake is being made and has started development with its confirmed casting choices with actors, personalities, and even artists that you would never imagine would be chosen to portray their Street Fighter video game characters. These are the confirmed names thus far: Andrew Koji as “Ryu,” Noah Centineo as “Ken,” Alan Ritchson as “Guile,” and Jason Momoa as “Blanka.” They have been joined by the following confirmed names: WWE Superstar Roman Reigns will be “Akuma,” hip-hop artist 50 Cent will be “Balrog,” indie actress Callina Liang will be “Chun-Li,” and podcaster Andrew Schulz as “Dan Hibiki,” or simply known as “Dan” to all of us who got to play Street Fighter Alpha 1, 2, and 3 during the Playstation 1 years wherein “Dan” made his first appearance as a playable character.
The last revealed casting choice who will portray “Dan” is amusing to me, because for those who are unaware of who “Dan” is in Street Fighter, he is like a poor man’s version of Ryu and Ken with similar movesets, but everything comes up short, lame, and weaker. His projectile attack (a version of the Hadoken) has the shortest range, his Shoryuken does not go high enough, and his special moves, how can I put this eloquently? They all suck! Haha…. For sure, the comical Andrew Schulz as “Dan Hibiki” will provide the comic relief for the upcoming Street Fighter movie. Hilariously, among the world of legitimate fighters that will comprise the growing roster for the new Street Fighter movie, there is one wannabe fighter in “Dan Hibiki” among them. Haha….
This is the most eclectic and yet interesting casting lineup I have seen for a video game-based movie in active development in years. But what looks good on paper, would it translate well enough on the big screen? Time will tell. For now, the only thing we can do is imagine, as best as possible, how these stars would appear as their famous Capcom video game characters. A few are definite head-scratchers, but once they put on the makeup, the costume, and method acting, if they can do that, I think it is passable at least. But it would be hard not to see that it is 50 Cent no matter what! Haha….
Unsurprisingly, some casting choices are hard to shake off—a specific perception of them, so you can’t blame most moviegoers for still seeing in your mind’s eye the actor portraying the character and not the onscreen character themselves, or in this case, a video game character.
Image from Capcom and Takashi Nishiyama
To ensure a new live-action Street Fighter movie becomes a box office success, the studio should faithfully adapt the video game characters. This means respecting their origins, history, appearance, fighting skills, and special moves. Adhering to these elements would earn the trust and respect of both gamers and Street Fighter fans.
While the first Street Fighter movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme was “okay” in terms of everything about it, decades later, I can now view it as an excellent starting point for future live-action adaptations of the Capcom video game on what they can improve upon. If you got to watch it back then, try watching it again and ask yourself, do you still enjoy it as you did when you were younger, or has the film lost its entertainment value?
Why so? There are a lot of things that the people in charge of the upcoming Street Fighter movie can study in that first film, and stuff that they should not do. Why so? Because, in some respects, that movie did not age well, and it is more of a nostalgic flick of the 90s that is rooted deeply in the Street Fighter 2 phenomenon that took over all arcades and home ports of it throughout the early 90s. I was one of those kids who got hooked on playing this versus fighting game, just like millions of others from around the world.
When I think about it and reminisce about those fun times in my youth playing Street Fighter 2, it would be hard to duplicate the reach that Street Fighter had for arcades and home ports because we are talking about a versus fighting game that came out at the height of the boom in the video game industry, and there were countless games out there. But here comes the revolutionary Street Fighter 2, which not only stuck out among buyers but it struck a chord without question to anyone who got to play it for the first time due to its graphics, gameplay, mechanics, playability, and characters, and from that memorable video gaming experience moving forward, they became loyal fans of the Capcom video game and have never left since then.
And when something like that has grown to be beloved, it was only a matter of time before movie studios got interested in doing a live-action adaptation of it, and that sure did happen only a few years after it was released, and that happened in the decade of the nineties.
Which leads me to this: currently in 2025, another major movie studio has tapped into something more than nostalgia, because the Street Fighter video games are still top sellers in their various home ports they are in, and the legacy behind such staple iconic video game characters as Ryu, Ken, Guile, Chun-Li, Dhalsim, Zangief, E. Honda, and Blanka—the original eight good fighters—has only grown over time and their battles against the evil M. Bison.
Now, of course, the roster has grown substantially with each brand-new installment, with fighters spanning more countries, bringing with them their signature fighting styles and enemies that are as dangerous as M. Bison and his cohorts (Vega, Sagat, and Balrog), who are all strong in name recognition. Now the waiting game begins to see who else will be cast. Let us wait and see in the coming days and weeks which other actors, personalities, and artists will be filling in the remaining available Street Fighter characters that do not yet have anyone attached to them.
Will the individuals selected understand the lore behind the video game characters they are going to bring to life, or are they even fans of Street Fighter in the first place? Who knows for sure, right? But one thing is for sure, you bet, they have either played a Street Fighter game at one point in their lives or are currently playing the new ones because unless you have been living under a rock for decades, then you have heard of Street Fighter because that is how legendary it has become and this is the pride and joy of Capcom.
This is their greatest creation in my eyes because the Street Fighter video games have spanned decades, have been played by generations of players, and are still being played to this day by millions of gamers, fans, and old timers like myself.
I am excited for this one, because it feels like the time is right that there would be a Street Fighter movie that can tick all the boxes, given that realistically there are no more reasons or excuses for the movie studio to not get this right when there have been more than 20 years since any live-action Street Fighter movie has been released. And with that long period, it is virtually impossible that they have not learned what to do and what not to do this time around. Think about it, they have all the people, resources, and means to make this the definitive Street Fighter live-action adaptation of all time.
High expectations on my part? Damn right! This is the one and only Street Fighter we are talking about, and it has been a long time coming that another big-budget live-action adaptation from a major Hollywood movie studio gets made.
