Fresh off of helming one of the summer’s most anticipated horror films,Talk to Me, YouTubers turned directing duoDanny and Michael Philippouare already gearing up to take to the streetswith their adaptation of Capcom’s long-running fighting game seriesStreet Fighter. While it may not be their next film project, the brothers are already making plans for how they want to dive into the game’s rich lore. Most of the film’s details have been kept under wraps thus far, but we do know that Legendary Entertainment is behind the production alongside the game studio. Details may be sparse right now, but the brothers did tease a little bit about the film when they stopped by Collider’s suite at SDCC to chat withPerri Nemiroff.
Street Fighteris still considered the godfather of the fighting game genre to this day withStreet Fighter II: The World Warriorcompletely changing the face of the genre as it pushed toward face-to-face, player-vs-player competition and took arcades by storm at the time of its release. Future games in the genre have only continued toadd more memorable charactersand introduce new mechanics to keep the series fresh all the way up to its most recent installment,Street Fighter 6. Characters like Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Zangief, Guile, Akuma, and M. Bison have become recognizable beyond their own franchise with backstories worthy of exploring in other mediums.
The new film by the Philippou brothers won’t be the first time the franchise has tried to make the jump to the big screen. 1994’s live-actionStreet Fighter: The MoviestarringJean-Claude Van DammeandRaul Juliadidn’t win much favor with audiences in depicting the fight of Col. Guile and the street fighters against the evil Shadaloo, even if it has some campy charm. Anumber of animated adaptationshave also come about with mixed results. Generally, the story has always revolved around the titular Street Fighter tournament which gathers the strongest fighters from around the world to compete all as the sinister machinations of M. Bison’s Shadaloo go on in the background. Regarding where they want to take their film, Danny shared:
“I think it’s awesome that we have such a connection with the game and to the characters, and there’s not like a pre established big film franchise where we have to fall in line [with] an overall plot. I think that we’d have the freedom to create what that overall arc could be if it was gonna be a bunch of films. And also, we’d love the chance to do an action film. We’d love the chance to do big set pieces of a big budget because even on our YouTube stuff, we’re designing stunt rigs that had never been done before, and to do that on a grand scale, man, I feel like we could create something no one’s ever seen before.”
Michael went on to say, “And I think it’s like, diving into the lore ofStreet Fighter, all the characters, where they come from has been so exciting. You just get endless ideas, so putting them to the screen, yeah, I think we can make something special.” Danny followed up to add, “But I will say, I don’t know if that’s gonna be our second film. We could squeeze in another one before that.”
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The Philippou Brothers Have Big Plans BeyondStreet Fighter
Although their attention is now focused on bringingStreet Fighterto the big screen, the Philippous are also weighing an expansion toTalk to Me. In a previous interview with Collider, the brothers explained they havea full mythology bible based on the lore of the handand may be planning to employ that with a trilogy of films, should they be given the chance. Legendary, meanwhile, could be looking to expandStreet Fighterbeyond their film asthey also picked up the television rights to the franchisein the same deal.
At SDCC, Nemiroff also asked the Phillipous for something from theStreet Fighterlore that they’ll strive to uphold and also something about their plan for the film to make it uniquely their own. Danny began “Well, we definitely want to pay tribute to all the Hadokens, and all the characters' powers. I think that’s an amazing thing to be able to translate and put on screen. That’s really exciting. To create some of those impossible moves on camera I think would be incredible.” Michael went on to say:
“Even the settings, like the levels, where the fights are based, they’re so iconic. Doing justice to them, bringing that visually to life and just capturing that fun energy of Street Fighter.”
Danny added in, “There’s something I don’t know if we change, but I think that there’s a lot of backstory with the characters, but it’s cool that we could have the essence of a character and then give them a deeper, richer—” Michael jumped in to say, in closing, “But it’s rich! It’s rich when you look at it. There’s so many comics and books that [are] based on the characters.”
Stay tuned here at Collider for more on theStreet Fighterfilm. In the meantime check out the trailer forTalk to Mebelow ahead of its release on July 28.
