Legendary’s adaptation of the Street Fighter video game franchise has found a new director. Deadline is reporting today that Kitao Sakurai has signed on to the movie, following the departures of Danny and Michael Philippou last year. This is not the first time Sakurai has directed a video game adaptation; he previously served as director on multiple episodes of Twisted Metal. Given the positive reception to the Peacock series, that could bode well for Sakura’s take on Street Fighter. In addition to Twisted Metal, Sakurai directed the Netflix film Bad Trip, and was both director and executive producer on The Eric Andre Show.
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Legendary’s Street Fighter will be the third attempt by Hollywood at adapting the Capcom fighting game franchise. In 1994, Universal Pictures released the first Street Fighter movie, which was directed by Steven E. de Souza, and starred Jean-Claude Van Damme, Raul Julia, and Ming-Na Wen. The movie was a critical flop, but has gained greater appreciation in recent years. More than three decades after its theatrical release, Street Fighter continues to generate “tens of millions of yen each year,” according to Capcom. In 2009, a second attempt at Street Fighter was released in theaters, titled Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li. That film was panned by critics and audiences alike.
It remains to be seen whether Sakurai’s Street Fighter will find greater success than the first two films, but a lot has changed in the years since. Hollywood has clearly seen the financial benefits that can be found by making more faithful gaming adaptations. In addition to huge success stories like The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Sonic the Hedgehog, there’s also been Legendary’s own Pokemon: Detective Pikachu. All of those movies have been hugely successful commercially, while feeling faithful to the games that inspired them.
At this time, details about the new Street Fighter movie are very slim, but fans are no doubt curious to see how the director will approach the source material. The video game series started life in 1987, but it wasn’t until 1991’s Street Fighter II that it truly became a global phenomenon. That game introduced several fan favorite fighters, including series staples such as Chun-Li, Blanka, and M. Bison. In the years since, the series has added a plethora of additional characters that could be brought to the big screen.
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Now that Street Fighter has a director (again), hopefully the film can get back on track. At this time, the movie does not have a release date, but reports last year suggested that Legendary is targeting the first half of 2026. Those reports came after the previous directors left the picture, which seemed optimistic at the time, and seems far less realistic now, given how long it took to announce Sakurai’s involvement. Hopefully the director will be given ample time to bring his vision for Street Fighter to the big screen.
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