A Streets of Rage Movie From the Creator of John Wick? Yeah, I Can See It
As Sonic 2 and Uncharted prove there's life in the video game adaptation, the side-scrolling Sega classic could be next on the big screen.
Classic '90s beat-'em-up Streets of Rage is set to knuckle up as a movie from the creator of the John Wick movies.
Having created the Keanu Reeves-starring action series, writer Derek Kolstad isn't involved in the forthcoming John Wick 4 (which is delayed until March 2023). Some people would use the time off to crash on the sofa playing video games, but Kolstad apparently went one better and wrote a big-screen version of the iconic Sega side-scrolling game.
Video game movie adaptations just won't go away, huh? There's a long history of iconic games turned into terrible movies. The recent Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City didn't exactly set the world alight, but the Uncharted adaptation with Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg and Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (in theaters now) this year tussled to be the biggest ever game movies. So the console-to-silver-screen pipeline well probably isn't drying up any time soon. And sometimes a combination of subject and filmmaker comes along that makes you think, y'know what? That'll work.
Streets of Rage 2 was a pillar of the Genesis lineup.
Developed by Sega, the first game came out for its Genesis console in 1991, spawning two '90s sequels -- Streets of Rage 2 is playable on Nintendo Switch Online -- followed by a belated Streets of Rage 4 in 2020. Sega and dj2 Entertainment (the production company behind the Sonic movies) are developing the movie, Deadline reports, which Kolstad wrote as a spec script. Sega and dj2 Entertainment didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Streets of Rage story is simple and flexible enough for a film adaptation to flesh out the story while keeping the ass-kicking spirit. The original game followed badass cops Adam Hunter, Axel Stone and Blaze Fielding as they punched and kicked their way through hordes of 16-bit ninjas and other criminals.
Kolstad also wrote the acclaimed Bob Odenkirk action flick Nobody and co-produced Marvel's Disney Plus series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Let's hope his movie versions finds room for plenty of button-bashing baddie-beating, not to mention appearances from the game's brilliantly named characters, like Max Thunder, Skate and Dr. Zan.
