The big-screen comeback of Street Fighter has hit a major speedbump, with the project reportedly losing its release window in Sony Pictures’ upcoming slate. Under development with Sony and Legendary Pictures and originally set to debut in theaters on March 20th, 2026, Variety reports that the Street Fighter movie has been removed from Sony’s release calendar. At present, little other info is available regarding the Street Fighter project, including any prospective production start date or timeframe to when its release might be rescheduled.
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Barely a month before the project’s delay, Kitao Sakurai was announced as director, while game developer Capcom is set to co-produce the film with Legendary Pictures. Given the suddenness of the project’s delay, it is unclear whether Sakurai remains attached to Street Fighter, or if there had been any movement on casting the project. However, the delay unfortunately continues an extended string of bad luck the Street Fighter franchise has had in achieving big-screen success.
1994’s Jean-Claude Van Damme-led Street Fighter was the first live-action adaptation of the popular fighting game series, and despite its box office success, the movie was widely panned for its campy, silly tone and deviations from the games. However, Raul Julia’s over-the-top performance as M. Bison was widely praised, with Julia even earning a posthumous Saturn Awards nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Since then, Street Fighter has gone on to become something of a cult classic for its cartoonish tone, with Capcom reportedly still earning significant revenue the Street Fighter movie.
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2009’s Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li was a far more disastrous reboot attempt, earning just $12.8 million worldwide on a $50 million with none of the cult fandom of its 1994 predecessor. Street Fighter finally achieved live-action success with the 2014 web-series/movie Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist, directed by Joey Ansah with Mike Moh and Christian Howard respectively portraying Ryu and Ken, along with Ansah playing Akuma. Assassin’s Fist subsequently spawned a 2016 follow-up series, Street Fighter: Resurrection, with plans for a much larger series titled Street Fighter: World Warrior (per Ansah in an interview with Scott Adkins, David Ayer was even attached to direct the pilot episode.) However, these plans never got off the ground.
Street Fighter has a rather unique history as a video game franchise, with its 1987 inaugural entry earning negligible attention, only for its 1991 follow-up Street Fighter II to become one of the biggest video game hits of all time and kickstart the Street Fighter franchise. This also made Street Fighter II the true foundation of the entire franchise, with the animated film Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie adapting the game’s story (hence its title), and the 1994 Street Fighter movie explicitly identifying Street Fighter II as its source material in the opening credits.
With the popularity of recent video game movie hits like the Sonic The Hedgehog movies along with the rebooted Mortal Kombat franchise releasing its second movie later this year, it is no doubt both disappointing and frustrating for many gamers that Street Fighter has had such difficulty being adapted. With news of the project’s delay, the Street Fighter movie’s status is now seemingly up in the air. Between that development and Assassin’s Fist and Resurrection standing as the only major successes Street Fighter has found in live-action, reviving Ansah, Howard, and Moh’s plans for Street Fighter: World Warrior might end up being the strongest prospect the Street Fighter franchise has for a thriving cinematic future.
