Street Fighter

Street Fighter is the third live-action take on Capcom's fighting game, after the 1994 Jean-Claude Van Damme film and The Legend of Chun-Li in 2009. Legendary acquired the rights in 2023 and hired Kitao Sakurai, a director with a comedy background. The film was shot in Australia from August to November 2025 and is distributed by Paramount. It opened in France on 14 October 2026 and in the United States on 16 October.

A cast of fighters

The film leans on real athletes. Joe Anoa'i, Roman Reigns in WWE, plays Akuma, and Cody Rhodes is Guile. Japanese wrestler Hirooki Goto, a New Japan Pro-Wrestling regular, plays E. Honda. UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski appears as Joe. Indian actor Vidyut Jammwal, trained in kalaripayattu, plays Dhalsim. Andrew Koji, known for the series Warrior, plays Ryu opposite Noah Centineo's Ken.

What you will recognise

In the games, Ryu and Ken use a fictional style built on karate: white gi, low guard, roundhouse kicks and throws. The film keeps those codes and mixes them with the franchise's special moves, Hadouken included. Blanka (Jason Momoa), Zangief (Dutch bodybuilder Olivier Richters), Balrog (50 Cent) and Vega (Orville Peck) are also there. The fights go for video game spectacle, not MMA realism.

Reception

US critics are split: 40% positive on Rotten Tomatoes and 44 out of 100 on Metacritic. Polygon was scathing, while IGN and others praised the fight scenes and several performances. It is aimed at gamers and fans of unpretentious action, with a comic tone that sets it apart from earlier adaptations.