Preview:
- ‘Dune’s David Dastmalchian is joining the new ‘Street Fighter’ movie.
- He’ll play the big bad, M. Bison.
- Kitao Sakurai is in the director’s chair.
The cast for the new ‘Street Fighter’ movie is really starting to come together at last.
And the latest addition, per Deadline, ‘Dune’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ actor David Dastmalchian, who has scored his biggest role yet, playing the scheming, powerful villain M. Bison, a stalwart of the games and its various adaptations.
1198Dastmalchian’s casting marks the latest positive step forward for the new movie, which is slowly coming together via Legendary Entertainment and Sony Pictures.
Related Article: Jason Momoa, Noah Centineo & Andrew Koji in Talks For ‘Street Fighter’
What’s the story of ‘Street Fighter’?
The games revolve around an international martial arts tournament where fighters from around the world compete to prove their strength and abilities. This is a franchise that gained massive popularity with the release of ‘Street Fighter II’ in 1991, which introduced revolutionary mechanics such as combo attacks and special moves, and greatly influenced arcade and home console gaming.
Subsequent titles have expanded the game’s universe, introducing new characters, complex storylines, and enhanced graphics and gameplay mechanics, so there are potentially rich pickings for anyone looking to adapt it.
Which brings us to the 1994 movie, which didn’t exactly cover itself in glory, but has a fanbase. It starred the likes of Jean-Claude Van Damme, Raul Julia, Ming-Na Wen, Simon Callow and, in a somewhat more surprising addition, Kylie Minogue (who, let’s not forget, pursued acting before becoming a pop megastar).
More recent was 2009’s ‘Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li,’ directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak. That one starred Kristin Kreuk as the title character, who as a child witnesses her father being captured by wealthy gangster Bison. When she grows up, she goes into a quest for justice and bring down his criminal organization known as Shadaloo.
If you haven’t really heard of that one, you’re not alone –– made for $18 million by Hyde Park Entertainment, it took in around $12 million worldwide and failed to make much of an impact in pop culture.
There was also an animated series, which got a better reception than either movie, but still didn’t really break out.
What has happened with the new ‘Street Fighter’ movie so far?
The latest attempt at bringing ‘Street Fighter’ to screens has been in the works for a couple of years, since Legendary announced its acquisition of live-action film and TV rights back in 2023.
In that time, it has been through at least one set of directors, as ‘Talk to Me’ sibling duo Danny and Michael Philippou hopped aboard in April of that year, only to depart after a few months of development.
Kitao Sakurai, who previously directed 2021 buddy comedy/prank movie ‘Bad Trip,’ was hired in February, and is still attached.
Who else is aboard the new ‘Street Fighter’ movie?
The movie already features a clutch of names, from A-listers to athletes and musicians.
Jason Momoa is confirmed to play Blanka, a feral man with green skin who comes from the Brazilian jungle.
Noah Centineo will be Ken Masters, the best friend/sometime enemy of fellow fighter Ryu, which is the role ‘Snake Eyes’ Andrew Koji landed.
Wrestler Roman Reigns is Akuma, a villainous type who defeated his brother, who happens to be Ryu and Ken’s master.
Fellow WWE veteran Cody Rhodes has the part of Guile, a US Air Force pilot and brawler who has sworn to take down Shadaloo.
Country singer Orville Peck will be Vega, who in the game is a masked claw fighter from Spain who uses a personal fighting style combining Japanese ninjutsu and Spanish bullfighting.
Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson will play Balrog, a disgraced boxer who is also the bodyguard of Bison. He’s reportedly training to perform his own stunts for the movie.
And finally, Callina Liang, last seen in ghost story ‘Presence’ is playing Chun-Li.
Where else have we seen David Dastmalchian?
Dastmalchian has enjoyed a real boost to his career of late, but he’s been plugging away for years.
He’s become known for memorable, scene-stealing roles in the likes of the ‘Ant-Man’ franchise and ‘The Belko Experiment.’
Other movies include ‘Blade Runner 2049’, ‘Dune: Part One’, and 2021’s ‘The Suicide Squad.’
More recently, he enjoyed acclaim as the star of indie horror ‘Late Night with the Devil’ and was also seen in ‘The Boogeyman’ and ‘The Life of Chuck’.
On the small screen, he appeared in shows including ‘Murderbot’, ‘Gotham’ and ‘The Flash’.
Coming up, he has the likes of the movies ‘Dust Bunny’, ‘Sender’ and ‘The Cure’ and has a role in the next season of Netflix’s ‘One Piece’.
When will the new ‘Street Fighter’ movie hit theaters?
Despite the growing cast ranks and the presence of a director, Sony and Legendary are looking to avoid the mistakes of the past and haven’t planted a flag for this one just yet.
Which makes sense given ‘Street Fighter’s somewhat tortuous development history. This one might actually have a fighting chance.
Other Movies and TV Shows in the ‘Street Fighter’ Franchise
- ‘Street Fighter’ (1994)
- ‘Street Fighter: The Animated Series’ (1995)
- ‘Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li’ (2009)
