Sega has seen quite the success with the Sonic the Hedgehog films, so now it is expanding and trying to to put another one of its retro video game franchises onto the silver screen. According to a new report, Streets of Rage is being adapted into a film.
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Deadline’s exclusive report states that Derek Kolstad, the writer behind the John Wick films, is also writing this film. Escape Artists, known for the Equalizer franchise, and dj2 Entertainment, one of the companies behind the Sonic films, are both producing it. It seems as though dj2 is becoming known as the video game film studio, as it is also adapting projects based on It Takes Two, Disco Elysium, Sleeping Dogs, Tomb Raider, My Friend Pedro (which Kolstad is also writing), Little Nightmares, and more.
Streets of Rage started in 1991 and became a well-known 2D beat ’em up series. The most recent entry, 2020’s Streets of Rage 4, was received incredibly well and shows that the franchise has life even around 30 years later.
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It’s unclear if this is related to a Variety report from 2016 that revealed Sega’s intentions to explore adaptations of Altered Beast and Streets of Rage for television and film. Given how the parties involved seem to be different this time around — Stories International and Circle of Confusion don’t seem to be mentioned in this new release — it’s unlikely that these are the same projects.