Get ready, World Warriors! Legendary’s live-action Street Fighter movie has a new director, and it’s Bad Trip‘s Kitao Sakurai.
Deadline confirms that Sakurai has landed the Street Fighter directing gig, taking over from Talk To Me directors Danny and Michael Philippou who dropped out last year to prioritize their horror film Bring Her Back.
Sakurai at least has some experience adapting popular video games. He’s directed episodes of the Peacock series, Twisted Metal, based on the Sony Playstation demolition derby game. He’s mainly known for directing the 2021 comedy Bad Trip, and for his work on The Eric Andre Show which earned an Emmy nomination.
Launched in 1987 with the original Street Fighter arcade game, the franchise took off in 1991 with Street Fighter II. Multiple sequels and spinoffs have been released, becoming a global phenomenon. This led to a terrible live-action movie in 1994 starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Raul Julia, followed by an equally horrible 2009 disaster, The Legend of Chun-Li, starring Kristin Kreuk and Chris Klein at his absolute worst.
Legendary has set Street Fighter‘s release date for March 20th 2026, so expect to learn who will be playing Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, and other iconic fighters soon.
