SEGA's Popular Fighting Game 'Streets of Rage' Primed for a Big-Screen Adaptation

 

by Darian Scalamoni

    Movie adaptations that attempt to translate video games to screen have often been viewed as a cancer to the entertainment industry. Many attempts such as the original 1993 live-action Super Mario Bros. and 1994's Street Fighter: The Movie as well as more recent attempts like 2016's Assassin's Creed and 2015's Hitman: Agent 47 highlight a realm that Hollywood hasn't fully mastered yet. However, more recently, there have been small triumphs. Some of those include Pokemon: Detective Pikachu and SEGA's Sonic the Hedgehog films. SEGA plans to build on this success with news of its latest video game movie coming to fruition.

    According to an exclusive report from Deadline, the popular beat 'em up franchise Streets of Rage is set for a big-screen adaptation coming from SEGA and Lionsgate. The film is set to be produced and written by John Wick creator, Derek Kolstad. Streets of Rage was one of the more popular video game series of the 1990s releasing three installments between 1991-1994. The franchise finally released its highly anticipated fourth game in 2020 to rave reviews generating newfound interest in the game lending itself to be in the pop culture-sphere and ripe for an adaptation of its characters and story for the big screen. With someone such as Kolstad in tow who has tons of experience with action in his projects due to his success with John Wick, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Nobody, I think Streets of Rage has tons of promise.

    SEGA has planned multiple film franchises following the success of their landmark character Sonic the Hedgehog. The first film following the blue speedster grossed $722 million worldwide prior to the COVID pandemic and starred James Marsden, Jim Carrey as the villainous Dr. Eggman and Ben Schwartz voicing Sonic. The sequel released earlier this year and brought other franchise icons Tails and Knuckles to the movies with Idris Elba voicing the latter. Toru Nakahara, who produced the Sonic films, will produce Streets of Rage as well and aims to bring other SEGA franchises such as Space Channel 5 and Comix Zone to get adaptations on screen.

    What do you guys think? Are you excited about Streets of Rage getting the movie treatment? What are some other SEGA games you'd like to see get film adaptations?