Let’s be honest — the Street Fighter franchise has been burned by Hollywood twice already. The 1994 Van Damme film is a camp relic people watch ironically, and The Legend of Chun-Li is so bad it barely gets mentioned. So when Legendary announced a full reboot, the gaming community’s reaction was somewhere between cautious optimism and exhausted eye-rolling.
A fresh trailer landed today at CinemaCon — and it’s stirring up exactly that kind of split reaction.
On paper, the setup is more faithful than anything that came before. Ryu and Ken are the actual leads this time, not glorified side characters, and the World Warrior Tournament is front and center. The story is set in 1993, which gives it a period texture that could work in its favor — or just feel like nostalgia bait. We’ll see.
Behind the camera, there’s a real argument for cautious hope. Kitao Sakurai turned the Twisted Metal series into something far better than anyone expected, which at least suggests he understands how to handle game IP without completely losing what made it work. The screenplay comes from Dalan Musson, who wrote Captain America: Brave New World — not exactly a gold-standard reference, but not a red flag either.
Andrew Koji as Ryu is the clearest win in a casting sheet that otherwise raises questions. He looks the part, moves the part, and brings actual martial arts credibility to the role. Noah Centineo as Ken is a harder sell — he’s neither an action presence nor a household name at this point, and nothing in his career screams “Street Fighter.” The rest of the roster — Momoa, Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, 50 Cent — feels like a headcount designed for social media buzz rather than character depth.
October 16 will settle the debate. Until then: hope for the best, expect nothing.
In theaters October 16, 2026 — IMAX
Data sources: FilmDB.co.uk and TMDb. Availability of information may vary, and accuracy is not guaranteed.
ActionComedyFantasy
Noah Centineo
Andrew Koji
Callina Liang
Joe Anoa’i
David Dastmalchian