The Street Fighter Movie Needs To Avoid the Mistakes That Hurt Its Biggest Rival

by

The new Street Fighter movie from Legendary Entertainment is set to revive the beloved fighting game series on the big screen. Production is underway with a large cast, including Andrew Koji as Ryu and Noah Centineo as Ken, and excitement is growing. This film is a complete restart of the live-action movies, directed by Kitao Sakurai and co-produced by Capcom, suggesting it will stay true to the original game. However, its 2026 release puts it in direct competition with the sequel to the 2021 Mortal Kombat reboot, turning the long-standing rivalry between these two gaming franchises into a cinematic battle. This means Street Fighter needs to impress both its fans and stand out from its biggest competitor.

As a huge cinema fan, I remember when the 2021 Mortal Kombat reboot came out – it did surprisingly well at the box office! Even though critics were split and the pandemic messed with its release, it absolutely crushed records on HBO Max, with almost 4 million people watching it just on opening weekend. That success meant a sequel, Mortal Kombat II, was quickly announced, and everyone’s excited about Karl Urban taking on the role of Johnny Cage. Now, if Street Fighter wants to compete, the team really needs to look closely at what didn’t quite work with the first Mortal Kombat. By learning from those mistakes, Street Fighter has a real chance to create the ultimate video game movie adaptation we’ve all been waiting for.

Street Fighter Should Stick to Canon, Contrary to the First Mortal Kombat

While the 2021 Mortal Kombat movie wasn’t a total disappointment – it did deliver the franchise’s trademark violent action – it frustrated many longtime fans. The film took liberties with the established story, most notably by introducing a new character, Cole Young (Lewis Tan). This character was intended to help audiences connect with the story, but fans criticized the need for an original hero when so many beloved fighters already existed. Cole’s connection to Scorpion (Hiroyuki Sanada) felt forced, and his storyline took attention away from iconic characters like Liu Kang (Ludi Lin).

The movie took the story in a different direction than the games by skipping the actual Mortal Kombat tournament. Instead of showing the classic martial arts competition, the plot focused on what happened before the tournament, with Shang Tsung trying to defeat Earthrealm’s fighters beforehand. While this allowed for plenty of action, it took away the core structure and intense drama that fans expect from Mortal Kombat. The upcoming Mortal Kombat II seems to be fixing this by putting the tournament front and center, and it looks like the new Street Fighter movie is also smartly doing the same, focusing on its World Warrior Tournament from the beginning.

One debated addition to the Mortal Kombat universe was the idea of “Arcana,” a plot device used to explain the source of the heroes’ powers. This meant characters like Jax getting his cybernetic arms, Kano his laser eye, and Liu Kang his fireballs, all from the same, general origin. Fans strongly disliked this, as it disregarded the long-established individual origins of each fighter – things like military technology, spiritual practice, or destiny. Street Fighter should learn from this and avoid simplifying its own rich history, instead focusing on the detailed backstories that the games have carefully developed over many years.

The new Mortal Kombat 2 movie is coming to theaters on May 8, 2026, and Street Fighter will be released on October 16, 2026.

Do you think Mortal Kombat II or Street Fighter will be the highest-grossing movie in 2026? Share your thoughts in the comments and join the discussion on the ComicBook Forum!

https://comicbook.com/gaming/list/mortal-kombat-4-over-the-top-fatalities-mightve-gone-too-far/embed/#

Read More

2025-11-13 03:42