Sony and Legendary’s upcoming adaptation of Street Fighter may have lost its directors, but it’s gained a firm release date.
Sony and Legendary have announced that their upcoming movie adaptation of Street Fighter will be arriving in cinemas worldwide on the 20th March 2026. The announcement comes just days after it was revealed that the film’s directors, Danny and Michael Philippou – aka RackaRacka – have departed the project due to scheduling reasons.
The brothers made 2023’s body horror success Talk To Me for A24, and are signed up to work with the same studio again for Bring Her Back, a project that is set to enter production imminently. We’d imagine that given a choice between retaining the brothers and securing this release date, Sony and Legendary opted for the latter and so (as far as we know) we have one of those situations where a project has been dated before it even has a director in place.
Given that the (relatively limited) history of live action Street Fighter films hasn’t, er, thrown up a classic, this isn’t the most auspicious news. Still, we’re hoping that a new director is announced shortly and that it will be somebody who boasts the same impressive name value as the departing Philippou brothers.
About that history, then. To date, we have 1994’s Street Fighter which offered some campy thrills but even at the time of release was considered to be lacking as an adaptation of one of the world’s wackiest, colourful and most beloved videogame series. A spin-off followed charting the further adventures of Chun-Li, and this was even less well-received.
Read more: Talk To Me review | Tantalising teen horror
The behind the scenes story of 1994’s Street Fighter is a highly entertaining one to check out, though, not least because Capcom – the videogame studio that makes the series – was perhaps too heavily involved in key creative decisions. Capcom is once again a partner along with Sony and Legendary this time, and we’re looking forward to learning a few details as to what elements of the Street Fighter universe will make it into the film.
All we know for now, though, is that Sony and Legendary have staked out the date for the new movie (via Deadline) – and it’s a spot where currently, competition looks light. Warner Bros’ The Cat In The Hat releases on 6th March, Mike Flanagan’s new take on The Exorcist on arrives on 13th March, and Street Fighter will enjoy a couple of weeks at the box office before Universal’s sequel to the 2023 box office smash, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, debuts on 3rd April.
When we do hear more news on Street Fighter, including the film’s new director, we’ll let you know here. No doubt we’ll be the only outlet to do so.
