Back in the day, you were either a Street Fighter kid or a Mortal Kombat kid. Both had their pros and cons, but you had to choose one. I mean, your parents weren’t going to shell out good money for both, right? Well, parents who actually loved their kids did. Thanks for nothing, Dad. Since I had to choose, I went with Street Fighter. The moves seemed more straightforward to do, and my mom had less of a heart attack about the cartoony violence than the bloody gore that Mortal Kombat provided. The games after Street Fighter II were plentiful, even if the movies were not great. With a new film on the horizon, we can only hope they get it right this time.
Who’s In It?
With an extensive collection of characters to choose from, it will be easy to fill out a cast of unique fighters for the film. In the past, we’ve had Guile lead the film with a coked-up Jean Claude Van Damme. They tried again and put Chun Li front and center in the lead role. This time, it looks like Ken and Ryu will be our leading characters, even if big-names will be playing the supporting characters.
Noah Centineo as Ken
Comic book film fans will remember Noah as Atom Smasher in the Black Adam movie. He recently showed up in Warfare and may soon be using that experience as he is rumored to be taking on the lead in a Rambo reboot. Not sure we need that, but we will see. He doesn’t seem like the natural to cast as a bright blonde-haired surfer-looking guy with deadly karate moves. I’m sure he’ll be fine in the movie, but will we see him destroy a car with only his fists?
Andrew Koji as Ryu
Most martial arts fans might know him as Storm Shadow in the solo Snake Eyes movie. He has also dropped into such things as Bullet Train and Peaky Blinders. The guy seems to have the skills to play the stoic and deadly Ryu. Once you’ve faced off against Snake Eyes, it seems like anything else would be super easy. Can we expect an energetic “Hadouken!” when he shoots a fireball across the screen? We can only hope.
Jason Momoa as Blanka
Recently, Jason Momoa made headlines because he shaved his signature facial hair off for the upcoming Dune 3. Hopefully, he had already filmed his part in this film, as he seems like he would be perfectly cast in the movie, at least visually. Blanka has never been known for his deep monologues. Rumor is Blanka was always Momoa’s favorite character in the game, so this must be a dream come true.
David Dastmalchian as M. Bison
He is probably known as “that guy” for a lot of casual moviegoers. I’ve been a big fan of his since I first noticed him in The Dark Knight and Prisoners. Most recently, he has been “killing it” as serial killer Gareth on the last reboot of Dexter. He has tough shoes to fill as Raúl Juliá played the character in the original film. I’m curious to see what he will do with the character. No offense to Dasmalchian, but while he is tall, he doesn’t bring a large physique to the film. Even Julia had to wear a giant padded suit for the role.
50 Cent as Balrog
We’ve seen 50 Cent tackle quite a few roles in movies up to this point. It’s weird to see him cast as Balrog in the film, as he’s usually not a major character when it comes to the games. Yes, you can fight as him, so he is worth just about as much as any other. You just never hear anyone talk about how much they love to play as Balrog. It may just be for a small cameo, but it seems strange to cast someone with some name recognition as 50 Cent as a pretty forgettable character.
Cody Rhodes as Guile
Of all wrestlers, I wouldn’t have expected to see the current WWE champion sporting the long flattop. I wouldn’t be surprised if you told me John Cena was playing him. He’s already played a marine on the movie screen. Why not see if he can do one of those flipping kicks? Thanks to his buddy Steve Amell, Cody has shown up in a few things, but I would never suspect him of playing such a popular character in the Street Fighter franchise. Maybe it’s the neck tattoo that sold him to the director.
Roman Reigns as Akuma
If you’re getting one WWE wrestler, then why not try to grab another for a discount? He has appeared in a few things, but his most significant role outside of the ring to date was in Hobbs and Shaw alongside his very famous Cousin Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Playing a street fighter probably isn’t a big stretch from what wrestlers do on a daily basis. Akuma is obsessed with Ryu, so it would seem he could be a bigger character.
What’s It About?
The plot is being kept quiet at the moment, so there is no definitive storyline out there. If you’re a fan though, you only have to look at the games and previous movies. Obviously, M. Bison will be trying to take control of something. Maybe just run a major crime organization or take over the world. It could be anything. Then everyone comes together to stop him. The only thing that does seem to be out there is that the rivalry between Ken and Ryu will be more of a central point than it has been in the past films.
It’s always a little more challenging to predict what these films will focus on than, say, Mortal Kombat. You usually know that a secret tournament for the fate of the world will be at the center of those films. Although the last Mortal Kombat film only showed them preparing for the tournament, this time around. Since Street Fighter deals more with a crime organization and trying to stop them from taking over the world, they can spin it off in any number of directions.
When Can We See It?
As with anything in Hollywood over the last five years, there have been many scheduling issues since this was first being worked on. The duo behind Talk To Me, Danny and Michael Philippou, would initially take on the project. Scheduling issues with their newest film, Bring Her Back, caused them to drop out. Kitao Sakurai was brought on due to his experience with video game adaptations, having worked on the Twisted Metal series. Originally, the release date was March 20, 2026, but Sony has since taken it off their release schedule. It should be sometime in 2026, but they haven’t announced a new date.
Are you excited to see a new adaptation of Street Fighter? Let us know in the comments.
Source:
JoBlo
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