There’s a new Super Mario Bros. movie out this weekend, which is a good reminder that video games and cinema have long had a bumpy relationship. Indeed, the first was 1993’s Super Mario Bros., which almost killed the genre right out of the gate. The Street Fighter movie, released six months later and starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, did somewhat better, but it wasn’t until Mortal Kombat the following year that audiences started flocking to films based on games they could play at home.
Jump back to 2023 and the genre is thriving. Along with The Super Mario Bros. Movie, the latest Mortal Kombat film did well. Perhaps that’s why Legendary Entertainment, the production company behind the likes of the new Godzilla/Kong movies, Dune, and smaller fare like BlacKkKlansman, is bringing Street Fighter back to the multiplex.
📣 A new live-action Street Fighter movie is in the works! Co-produced by @Legendary Entertainment and Capcom. More news to come in the future! 👀 #StreetFighter pic.twitter.com/DyvjyWkXi2
— Street Fighter (@StreetFighter) April 5, 2023
Details are currently thin on the ground, though considering the huge scale of some of their movies, expect something along the same lines as the last Mortal Kombat movie. The two franchises have a history together, with the first Mortal Kombat game emerging around the same time as Street Fighter II, both of which took the duel genre to a new level. The big difference was that Kombat was super gory while Street Fighter didn’t allow players to rip out their opponents’ spines.
It’s not the first time the franchise attempted a Mulligan. Back in 2009, Hollywood tried again with Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, which made even less than the first Street Fighter, on a quite large budget. Here’s hoping third time’s the charm.
(Via The Verge)
