The Street Fighter game series was launched in 1987 and has sold 49 million copies since then. In 2023, Legendary acquired the rights to film and TV adaptation of the game and announced a joint venture with Sony.
It has now become known that Street Fighter will be released in theaters on March 20, 2026.
However, this is not the series’ debut on the big screen — in 1994, Universal made a film adaptation of the same name, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Kylie Minogue, Ming-Na Wen, and Raul Julia, and in 2009, 20th Century Fox released «Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li» with Kristin Kreuk. Both projects were harshly criticized, despite decent box office results: the first one has 11% and 20% on Rotten Tomatoesdespite bringing in almost $100 million against a budget of $35 million; and the second one – 3% and 18% (and a terrible $12 million box office against a budget of $50 million).
The new adaptation was originally supposed to be directed by Danny and Michael Philippou («Talk to Me»), but both recently left the project.
Despite the fact that many film adaptations have been synonymous with box office failures, the situation has improved somewhat in recent years. In particular, «Sonic the Hedgehog» and its sequel in 2022, Tom Holland’s «Uncharted», and «Dungeons and Dragons were commercially successful: A Thieves’ Honor» and the animated film «Super Mario Brothers». Equally successful in the television world were the adaptations of «The Last of Us» and «Fallout» — both have been extended for second seasons.