Street Fighter Reboot Movie Sets 2026 Release Date Despite Director Exit

The Street Fighter reboot movie sets a release date in 2026 despite its directors’ exit. The video game franchise is renowned for its six main installments since 1987, which have sold over 49 million copies, remaining one of the most beloved and best-selling video game franchises ever. In April 2023, it was announced that Sony and Legendary were developing a new Street Fighter movie with Danny and Michael Philippou, fresh off their successful debut Talk to Me, signing on to direct. However, both the directors recently departed the project.

Now, despite the directors’ exit, the video game adaptation is continuing development and has landed a release date. Sony has officially set a March 20, 2026 release date for the Street Fighter movie. Project Hail Mary, from Amazon MGM Studios, was previously scheduled for that same release date, setting up a potential box office battle in 2026.

The Street Fighter Movie Faces Numerous Challenges

It Currently Doesn’t Have A Director

The Street Fighter movie faces numerous challenges leading up to and after its release on March 20, 2026, one of which is that it currently doesn’t have a director. The Philippou brothers were previously attached, though they decided to depart the project to prioritize Bring Her Back, which reunites them with A24 and is set to start shooting this month. Legendary and Capcom had hoped to start production soon on the Street Fighter movie to meet its recently announced release date, though it’s unclear how long the search for a new director will take.

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A prospective Street Fighter adaptation needs to bring together a cast that can feature well in action scenes while retaining the game’s vibrant edge.

Additionally, the Street Fighter movie is facing a massive challenge because of the quality of past adaptations. Both the 1994 Street Fighter movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and 2009’s Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li starring Kristin Kreuk were either critical or commercial failures. The former has 11% and 20% scores on Rotten Tomatoes, though it was a commercial success that made nearly $100 million on a $35 million budget. The Legend of Chun-Li has terrible 3% and 18% scores on Rotten Tomatoes and was a box office bomb, grossing $12 million against a $50 million budget.

For many years, video game adaptations were generally critical or commercial failures. Recently, the tide has turned, and Sonic the Hedgehog, Uncharted, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie have all seen success in some way. Similarly, the television adaptations of The Last of Us and Fallout have found much success. In turn, this recent trend has only increased expectations for the upcoming Street Fighter movie. However, as past adaptations have proven, Street Fighter is incredibly difficult to adapt into a satisfying movie since the games don’t have a cohesive story.

Source: Sony