Hollywood has tried twice to turn Street Fighter into a watchable movie. The 1994 version gave us Raul Julia’s gloriously campy M. Bison and not much else. The 2009 Legend of Chun-Li was so bad it made you wonder if the filmmakers had actually played the games or just heard about them from a drunk friend. Now, in 2026, Paramount and Legendary Entertainment are making their case that the third time really is the charm—and based on the first full trailer, they might actually be right.
Set in 1993, the film embraces the neon-soaked, arcade-obsessed aesthetic of Street Fighter’s golden age rather than trying to modernize or grittify it. Director Kitao Sakurai, best known for the hidden-camera comedy Bad Trip and his work on The Eric Andre Show, brings an unexpected but weirdly perfect energy to the material. This is a movie that understands Street Fighter is fundamentally silly—it’s about people who can throw fireballs and stretch their limbs impossible distances—and leans into that absurdity with genuine affection.
The plot centers on estranged fighters Ryu and Ken Masters, played by Andrew Koji and Noah Centineo respectively. Ken has become a washed-up MTV celebrity who’d rather drink and sing karaoke than train. Ryu has retreated into hermitdom, afraid of the dark power inside him. They’re reunited when Chun-Li, played by Callina Liang, recruits them for the World Warrior Tournament. But behind the tournament lies a conspiracy orchestrated by M. Bison, played with twitchy menace by David Dastmalchian, that forces the former friends to confront each other and their own demons.
What distinguishes this adaptation is its commitment to the games’ visual language. The trailer opens with the iconic countdown timer sound effects. Ken performs a Shoryuken, Chun-Li busts out her Hundred Lightning Legs, and Ryu unleashes a Hadouken that looks ripped straight from the pixelated original. There’s even a shot of Ken beating up a car, a direct nod to the bonus stages from Street Fighter II. These aren’t subtle Easter eggs for hardcore fans; they’re the film’s primary vocabulary.
The cast is gloriously eclectic. Jason Momoa plays Blanka, the green-skinned electric monster, which is exactly the kind of left-field casting that suggests either genius or madness. Roman Reigns plays Akuma, the demonic martial arts master. Cody Rhodes plays Guile, complete with the flattop haircut that defies physics. 50 Cent plays Balrog, the disgraced boxer modeled after Mike Tyson. Orville Peck plays Vega, the masked Spanish ninja, which is so perfect it feels like destiny. Eric André plays the tournament announcer, ensuring that at least some of the dialogue will be completely unhinged.
The trailer reveals a tone that splits the difference between the grounded fighting of Mortal Kombat and the self-aware camp of the 1995 original. Characters make snarky asides. The costumes are faithful to the point of ridiculousness. And when Ryu screams “Hadouken!!!” at the climax, it doesn’t feel ironic or embarrassed—it feels like a declaration of purpose.
This is a movie that knows exactly what it is: a live-action cartoon about people punching each other for honor, revenge, and prize money. It doesn’t try to justify the games’ more ludicrous elements with gritty realism or origin-story solemnity. It simply presents them with enthusiasm and trusts the audience to have fun.
After decades of video game adaptations that either take themselves too seriously or don’t take the source material seriously enough, Street Fighter might have finally found the sweet spot. It’s colorful, it’s kinetic, it’s deeply stupid in the most intelligent way possible.
Game on.
See the fight live—catch Street Fighter in theaters October 16 and witness the video game adaptation that finally gets it right.
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