The Street Fighter movie has been removed from Sony’s 2026 release schedule, leaving the videogame adaptation’s future in doubt.
After a period of uncertainty over who would be the directing the film, the Street Fighter movie from Sony and Legendary appeared to have finally found some traction in the past few months. Around six months ago, reports suggested that Kitao Sakurai – director of the prank-based road movie Bad Trip – was in place to direct Street Fighter.
Depending on which outlet’s reporting you plump for, Sakurai has been in place for over six months or substantially less time than that. Either way, one timescale that wasn’t shifting was the film’s March 2026 release date, and the longer things went on without casting news or a shoot date, the less likely that calendar spot looked.
And as of today, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the film won’t be making that March 2026 slot. It may not even be releasing at all, following the report that Sony has pulled it from the schedule altogether.
The Philippou brothers – makers of 2022’s incredible Talk To Me – were originally slated to direct Street Fighter, a movie based on Capcom’s enduringly popular fighting videogame franchise featuring a colourful cast of martial artists from across the globe. The Philippous were said to be massive Street FIghter fans and all looked well. Not least because the filmmaking duo had that aforementioned, incredibly successful A24 horror under their belt, and the thought of what they might do with the Street Fighter series was all rather exciting.
Then scheduling conflicts kicked in and they had to depart the project.
With the greatest respect to Sakurai, we’re still curious about what the Philippou’s take would have looked like, so here’s hoping that Sony has decided to reverse course and wait for them after all. You likely don’t need us to tell you that 1994’s Street Fighter, the only other major adaptation of the franchise, hasn’t exactly aged like fine wine, although it does still make for a fun, campy thrill.
Fans of the games have been waiting a very long time to see their heroes face each other in a film that is loyal to the game series’ lore and actually a blinding movie to boot. This latest development has thrown that increasingly remote prospect into question. We’ll have to wait and see whether this iteration of Street Fighter ever resurfaces.
