Street Fighter opens in UK and US cinemas on Friday 16 October, a Legendary production made with Capcom and released by Paramount. It is the third live-action attempt at the fighting game, and the first two set a low bar: the 1994 film holds 11% on Rotten Tomatoes, and 2009's The Legend of Chun-Li holds 3%.
What is Street Fighter about?
The film is set in 1993. Ryu and Ken Masters, estranged fighters, are pulled back into competition when Chun-Li recruits them for the next World Warrior Tournament, which turns out to be cover for a conspiracy that sets the two against each other and their own pasts. Kitao Sakurai, best known for Bad Trip and The Eric Andre Show, directs from a screenplay he wrote with T.J. Fixman. He took over after Danny and Michael Philippou left the project in 2024.
Who is in the cast?
Andrew Koji plays Ryu, Noah Centineo plays Ken and Callina Liang plays Chun-Li. David Dastmalchian is M. Bison and Roman Reigns is Akuma. The rest of the roster leans on wrestlers, fighters and musicians: Cody Rhodes as Guile, Jason Momoa as Blanka, 50 Cent as Balrog, Orville Peck as Vega, Olivier Richters as Zangief, Vidyut Jammwal as Dhalsim, Hirooki Goto as E. Honda and Mel Jarnson as Cammy, with the UFC fighter Alexander Volkanovski in a smaller part. Eric André plays the tournament's ring announcer.
What do the trailers show?
The marketing has been unusually committed to the games. The official trailer, released at the start of September, opens straight-faced and turns noticeably campier halfway through. A featurette and second trailer on 21 September put the special moves front and centre, from the Hadouken to Chun-Li's Spinning Bird Kick and Zangief's suplex, and a Ryu-versus-Ken clip followed on 28 September along with a first look at their master, Gouken. The costumes and hairstyles follow the games closely, which is what the first teaser, shown at The Game Awards last December, was most praised for.
Why has it taken so long?
Sony originally had the film dated for March 2026, then dropped it from its slate in 2025 when its distribution arrangement with Legendary ended. Paramount picked it up in September 2025 and set the October date, and filming took place in Australia that autumn. Capcom has been closely involved throughout: Takayuki Nakayama, director of Street Fighter 6, is a producer and says he worked on the script. The game itself has now sold more than seven million copies.
Will it work?
It has been a good year for the genre. Mortal Kombat II took around $130 million worldwide, and Zach Cregger's Resident Evil, released on 18 September, had passed $190 million by the end of the month with the best reviews any video game adaptation has had. Street Fighter's tracking is softer. Boxoffice Pro's long-range forecast of 25 September puts its opening weekend at $30 million to $40 million, and other trackers have flagged weak momentum and lower figures. Reviews have not yet landed. A PG-13 rating and a tone the marketing plays as knowingly silly suggest a film aimed at a Friday-night crowd rather than at critics, which may be the right read of the material.
Save the date
Street Fighter is in cinemas from Friday 16 October in the UK and US, including IMAX, 4DX and ScreenX screenings. Its runtime is reported at around two hours.
Halidom's video game editions include Prime 1 Studio's Street Fighter 6 line: Chun-Li, Cammy, Juri, Marisa and Akuma.