During a sit-down with Screen Rant , Derek Kolstad (John Wick) shared a disappointing update on the initially planned film version of the classic Sega arcade game Streets of Rage, first announced back in 2016.
It was reported in 2022 that Lionsgate picked the project up to work with dj2 Entertainment and Escape Artists. However, Kolstad has stated a “actively inactive” classification on the film.
“I spent a lot of time on it… it’s such a cool script. I always talk about it’s 16 Blocks by way of The Raid,” the filmmaker shared. “So, once you hit page 17, there’s no letting up until page 101. I haven’t heard anything about it for a while, but I love it.”
Kolstad, Toru Nakahara, Dmitri M. Johnson, Timothy I. Stevenson, Dan Jevons, Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, and Tony Shaw were all due to produce.
Breaking the news, Engadget stated the adaptation came in a list of other projects designed for “tapping our childhood nostalgia, and those titles were among the most popular on Sega’s Mega Drive/Genesis platforms.”
“We look forward to seeing the centurion from Altered Beast rise from his grave,” shared Stories International CEO Tomoya Suzuki. “And the Streets of Rage heroes Adam, Axel and Blaze fight to take their city back.”
The original 1991 game, created by director and designer Noriyoshi Ohba, features the leading characters Axel Stone, Blaze Fielding, and Adam Hunter battling against the corrupted Mr. X and his seedy government ways in the fictional city of Wood Oak.
The game was followed by three sequels released during 1992, 1994 and 2020. It was also expanded with a comic book strip made of six parts and penned by Mark Millar and Nigel Kitching, appearing alongside Sega’s goldmine character Sonic the Hedgehog.
Streets of Rage is also acclaimed for its soundtrack, consisting of experimental, electronic and house influences. It was composed by Yuzo Koshiro and has gone on to influence the musical stylings of artists including Childish Gambino, Labrinth, BT, Danger and Dark Star, among others.
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