Despite rumors that the movie had been shelved, we recently got word that Legendary and Capcom's planned live-action Street Fighter reboot would be moving forward with Kitao Sakurai (Bad Trip) at the helm, and the casting process has now begun.
After originally being reported by Nexus Point News, Deadline has confirmed that Andrew Koji and Noah Centineo are in talks to play the co-lead roles of Ryu and Ken, respectively, and Jason Momoa and WWE pro-wrestler Roman Reigns are also in negotiations.
We don't know who Momoa will play, but Jeff Sneider believes Reigns has been cast as Akuma, the man who killed Ryu and Ken's trainer and mentor.
Koji starred in the recently cancelled Warrior Cinemax series and also played Storm Shadow in the G.I. JOE Snake Eyes movie. Centineo, who was originally set to play He-Man before the Masters of the Universe movie was revamped, has appeared in the likes of To All The Boys and The Recruit.
Momoa has appeared in the likes of Game of Thrones, Dune, and Aquaman, and was recently confirmed to play Lobo in Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.
Though numerous characters have been introduced over the years, Ryu and his best friend/rival Ken Masters have remained at the forefront of the Street Fighter video game franchise. Both fighters had very similar move sets, including the Dragon Punch and "Hadoken" fireball.
Capcom's Street Fighter series remains one of the most popular fighting games franchises of all time, but hasn't fared very well with live-action adaptations up until now. The 1994 movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Kylie Minogue has amassed a cult following over the years, but is still widely regarded as a misfire, and the less said about 2009's Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li the better!
We know next to nothing about this latest take on the property, so it's impossible to say whether it will break the trend. The majority of fans would seem to prefer a Ryu-focused story, but there is a lot of Street Fighter lore to mine from at this stage.
Sakurai, who stepped in to replace original directors Danny and Michael Philippou, is probably best known for writing, directing and exec producing The Eric Andre Show, and has also directed the pilot and several episodes of the upcoming Amazon Prime Video series Butterfly, as well as episodes of Peacock’s video game adaptation Twisted Metal.
Reports indicate that "scheduling was partly to blame" for the Philippou brothers' decision, as the filmmakers had shifted their focus to heir next project, Bring Her Back, which recently debuted its first trailer.
It's a shame that the Philippou brothers will no longer take the helm, as they sounded very enthusiastic about the film during a recent interview.
"I think it's awesome that we have such a connection with the game and to the characters, and there's not like a pre-established big film franchise where we have to fall in line [with] an overall plot," said Danny. "I think that we'd have the freedom to create what that overall arc could be if it was gonna be a bunch of films. And also, we'd love the chance to do an action film. We'd love the chance to do big set pieces of a big budget because even on our YouTube stuff, we're designing stunt rigs that had never been done before, and to do that on a grand scale, man, I feel like we could create something no one's ever seen before."
Michael added, "And I think it's like, diving into the lore of Street Fighter, all the characters, where they come from has been so exciting. You just get endless ideas, so putting them to the screen, yeah, I think we can make something special."