Street Fighter Movie Hits Delay, Removed from Sony's Release Calendar
"For you, the day Bison graced your village was the most important day of your life. But for me, it was Tuesday."
The highly anticipated big-screen return of Street Fighter has encountered a significant setback. The film, under development with Sony Pictures and Legendary Pictures, has reportedly been removed from Sony's upcoming release schedule, according to a report by Variety.
Originally slated to debut in theaters on March 20th, 2026, the Street Fighter movie's removal leaves its future uncertain. Currently, limited information is available regarding the project, including a potential production start date or a revised release timeframe.
Just a month prior to this delay, Kitao Sakurai was announced as the director, with Capcom, the original game developer, set to co-produce the film alongside Legendary Pictures. The suddenness of the delay raises questions about Sakurai's continued involvement and whether any casting progress had been made.
This setback unfortunately continues the franchise's history of challenges in achieving big-screen success. The first live-action adaptation, 1994's Street Fighterstarring Jean-Claude Van Damme, was a box office success but was widely criticized for its campy tone and deviations from the source material, although Raul Julia's performance as M. Bison has garnered a cult following over the years. A 2009 reboot, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, proved far more disastrous, failing to resonate with audiences or critics and earning a paltry $12.8 million worldwide against a $50 million budget.
The franchise found some live-action success with the 2014 web-series/movie Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist, directed by Joey Ansah. This project, featuring Mike Moh and Christian Howard as Ryu and Ken respectively, spawned a follow-up series, Street Fighter: Resurrection. Plans for a larger series titled Street Fighter: World Warriorwere in development, with David Ayer even attached to direct the pilot, but ultimately never materialized.
The Street Fighter video game franchise has a unique backstory. While the original 1987 game earned little attention, its 1991 sequel, Street Fighter II, became a global phenomenon, establishing the foundation for the entire franchise. The source material for the 1994 film was explicitly identified as Street Fighter II in the opening credits.
The delay is especially disheartening for fans given the recent success of video game movie adaptations like the Sonic the Hedgehog films and the upcoming sequel in the rebooted Mortal Kombat franchise.
With the movie's status now uncertain, and with Assassin's Fist and Resurrectionremaining the only major live-action successes for the franchise, reviving the original plans for Street Fighter: World Warrior, spearheaded by Ansah, Howard, and Moh, could potentially be the strongest path forward for a thriving cinematic future for Street Fighter.
In other changes to Sony's upcoming film slate, Tommy Wirkola's shark thriller Beneath the Storm, now retitled Shiver, has been shifted from August 2025 to July 2026.
Shiver stars Phoebe Dynevor, Whitney Peak, and Djimon Hounsou, and is produced by Adam McKay and Kevin Messick. The film was moved in an effort to align its release with the summer blockbuster season.
