I’m a fighting game fanatic, and that love first started with the beat ’em up video games of my youth. Games such as Double Dragon, Bad Dudes, Final Fight, and Streets of Rage. That last one is unquestionably my favorite and one of the great classic brawlers. The genre been the source of film adaptations before, but it would be criminal if that terrible Double Dragon movie stood as the most recognizable example. Fortunately, that’s about to change as the folks behind John Wick are developing a Streets of Rage movie.
Deadline reports that John Wick writer/creator Derek Kolstad will pen a Streets of Rage movie for Lionsgate. The news of Kolstad’s involvement first dropped back in April. Streets of Rage is based on the classic SEGA Genesis video game (SEGA, the home of Sonic the Hedgehog) about three former cops turned vigilantes who fight to protect their city that is being overrun by a criminal syndicate. Sequels were released in 1992 and 1994, with the most recent Streets of Rage 4 was released in 2020 and was pretty damn good.
“When Dmitri first mentioned the idea of cracking a “Streets Of Rage” movie, I was so immediately freaking in. And to play with Sega? The 10-year-old me is still grinning,” Kolstad said in a press statement.
Can’t wait to see who they cast as Blaze, Axel, and Adam, as well as the villainous Mr. X!
