Grab your pipes and garbage-cooked turkey. Universally acclaimed side-scroller action brawler Streets of Rage is getting the live-action treatment. With Lionsgate obtaining right and John Wick creator set to write as well as produce, this announcement marks an exciting development for one of Sega’s most legendary franchises, the Streets of Rage series.
Variety magazine confirms the details of the ambitious production for Streets of Rage. Lionsgate has secured the rights to produce, and has appointed John Wick creator Derek Kolstad to write and produce, ensuring that every punch, kick, and boom of a metal pipe is authentic and immeasurably entertaining. In addition to Derek, Streets of Rage will be produced by Dan Jevons, Dmitri M Johnson, and Timothy I Stevenson of dj2 Entertainment. Escape Artists’ Jason Blumenthal, Tony Shaw, and Todd Black will accompany the production as well. Finally, but not least, Sega’s Toru Nakahara will be set to produce Streets of Rage. Nakahara has established himself, producing the wildly successful Sonic the Hedgehog movies and is the executive produce of Sonic Prime exclusively debuting on Netflix on Thursday December 15th 2022. The Sonic The Hedgehog movies have earned well over $800 million since debuting in February 2020 and April 2022 respectively. A third Sonic movie is on the way.
For Derek, the appointment to the production of Streets of Rage is a dream come true. Like all of us, he grew up playing the classic Streets of Rage games in the early 90s, with its incredible gameplay and groundbreaking soundtrack,” “When Dmitri first mentioned the idea of cracking a ‘Streets of Rage’ movie, I was so immediately freaking in,” Derek said jubilantly. “And to play with Sega? The 10-year-old me is still grinning.” In the opening of each Sonic movie, as the idents and logos present themselves, the audience notices a mosaic of moving images, all representative of Sega’s golden age, from Golden Axe to Afterburner II. Streets of Rage is among this mosaic, and that was the first hinting of bigger plans for Sega’s iconic franchise.
What could a Streets of Rage Movie Look like
Lionsgate, through its hits and misses, is a studio that tends to have a strong pulse for what audiences are looking for in their movies. The studio has produced The Expendables trilogy, which was an action extravaganza under one roof. Additionally, Lionsgate introduced the world to Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games series, with a 5th movie, a prequel titled The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes, slated for release in November 2023. For Streets of Rage Lionsgate already has a strong foundation for success. However, it may take inspirations form other productions to be the best movie it can possibly be.
In 2012, Lionsgate released Dredd, and it was an incredible adaptation of the graphic novel. It’s possible that the studio will turn to the qualities that made Dredd a modern cult classic. It will likely not have an R rating as a PG-13 rating opens the movie to far more film goers. But the cinematography could lend itself to bringing life to a video game making its way into a movie.
In 2014, Lionsgate introduced John Wick to the world. In a time of superheroes, shared universes, and a deluge of immersion-breaking CGI, John Wick took action back to basics. The trilogy offers a realized vision of a noir, rainy world and a revenge story that strikes a cord. Streets of Rage, especially with Derek Kolstad at the helm, can easily create a visually striking world. In addition, it can come in the same hard-hitting combat featured in the games.
Streets of Rage 4 is on Steam, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, Xbox X/S, and Nintendo Switch.
Via Variety
