Regarding movies and TV shows, it’s not just having the right look, actors, and network/publishing company to help you get your product out there. You need the right person/people behind the camera to help enact the vision and make the script come off the page and come to life in a beautiful way. For video game shows and movies, this is infinitely important. Because if you have the wrong person behind the camera, no amount of acting, writing, and special effects will save you. That’s why the latest news on the Street Fighter movie is so interesting.
The beloved franchise was revealed not too long ago to be getting a third live-action adaptation, this time by Legendary Pictures. The first two adaptations don’t have the best place in video game adaptation history as they were flops and didn’t take some of the source material seriously enough. The most you likely remember from those films is the actor by M. Bison doing his “For me, it was Tuesday” speech. Of course, it was a great speech, but still.
However, there is hope on the horizon. The Hollywood Reporter notes that Danny and Michael Philippou are in talks to direct this new attempt, and they are a quality duo behind the camera. You might have heard about their horror film Talk To Me, which got much attention at the Sundance Film Festival, so much so that movie companies were clamoring to buy it from them and hire them for their agencies.
So the two definitely know how to make a good movie. But the question is, can they make a good Street Fighter movie?
It’s not impossible, but whether they try and do what many recent directors did with their video game projects remains to be seen.
If they wanted to follow the game and make fans happy, the easiest path would be to follow the story of the first two games and recreate the World Warrior Tournament. Neither of the other movies did that, and it likely hurt them.
The tournament would allow them to introduce the various fighters, build up M. Bison and his Shadoloo organization, and have all sorts of great fight scenes. It would also allow them to “get away” with a lighter story because it would be more about the characters fighting one another than anything else.
Nothing is official right now, but with a certain game coming out soon, Capcom will want to get this in the works sooner rather than later.
