Lionsgate’s live action Streets of Rage film is back in motion, with director Jeymes Samuel at the helm. Samuel is best known for writing, directing, and producing the 2021 BAFTA winning film The Harder They Fall, as well as The Book of Clarence.
Derek Kolstad, the writer behind Nobody and creator of the John Wick franchise, is no longer attached as writer. Stepping in to replace him are Pat Casey and Josh Miller, the writing duo behind the modern cult classic Violent Night and the successful Sonic the Hedgehog film franchise.
Streets of Rage, known as Bare Knuckle in Japan, was developed and published by Sega and first released in 1991 on the Sega Genesis. The side scrolling action game follows former police officers who take on a powerful crime syndicate using martial arts. Since its debut, the franchise has expanded with multiple sequels across a range of gaming platforms.
The Streets of Rage movie is being produced by Sega’s Toru Nakahara, Story Kitchen’s Dmitri M. Johnson, Michael Lawrence Goldberg and Timothy I. Stevenson, Escape Artists’ Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal and Tony Shaw, and Derek Kolstad, with Pat Casey and Josh Miller serving as executive producers alongside Story Kitchen’s Elena Sandoval. The project is being overseen by James Myers and Pavan Kalidindi for Lionsgate, Shuji Utsumi and Nakahara for Sega, Johnson for Story Kitchen, and Shaw for Escape Artists (via Variety).
🔥 Footnote: With the Mortal Kombat sequel performing well and the upcoming Street Fighter movie building anticipation, along with projects like Streets of Rage, Sleeping Dogs, and Sifu in development, could martial arts video game movies be the next big wave in Hollywood?
We’ll keep you updated on this project as we learn more. Until then, here’s a look at what director Jeymes Samuel is capable of in the Trailer for The Harder They Fall, followed by marketing material for Sega’s Streets of Rage franchise:
The Streets of Rage live action movie is giving me such a rage… An INTERNET RAGE! * Internet Rage will be right back! * INTERNET RAGE!
You see, a video game is nothing without the game. So all these movies can can do is: slap the video games title on a poorly written, badly acted cosplay / fan-fic. So this movie the rest of the crap (Resident Evil, Double Dragon, Street Fighter, etc.) in the movie toilet bowl known as the bargain bin.
I’ll pass.