For you, the day the upcoming Street Fighter movie graced your livestream of The Game Awards was the most important day of your life. But for me, it was Thursday. Just kidding — I was also incredibly stoked to get a first look at Legendary and Paramount’s highly anticipated video game adaptation. Basically the entire cast of Street Fighter joined host Geoff Keighley on stage to give audiences a sneak peek at the movie, as well as some stylized character posters.
When I say “basically the entire cast,” I mean it. The special guest stars on The Game Awards livestream included Noah Centineo (Ken), Andrew Koji (Ryu), Callina Liang (Chun-Li), Joe “Roman Reigns” Anoai (Akuma), David Dastmalchian (M. Bison), Cody Rhodes (Guile), Andrew Schulz (Dan), Vidyut Jammwal (Dhalsim), Orville Peck (Vega), Olivier Richters (Zangief), Rayna Vallandingham (Juli), Mel Jarson (Cammy), and Jason Momoa (Blanka). And you can see most of them in the first-look footage.
The Very First Street Fighter Movie Footage Is Here
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Directed by Kitao Sakurai, the film seems to be wholeheartedly embracing the world of 1991’s Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, but shifting the setting to 1993. Set to the sweet strains of Joey Valance and Brae’s Beastie Boys-inspired “Punk Tactics,” the sneak peek offers a hyper-kinetic, bone-crunching, and definitely-not-button-mashing glimpse of these iconic characters in action.
The sneak peek footage shows us several of the game’s global locations, including what I’m assuming is the sinister crime syndicate Shadaloo’s headquarters. Series stalwarts Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, and Guile all get opportunities to kick ass and take names–despite there being no dialogue apart from battle cries.
We also get to see Hirooki Goto as sumo wrestler E. Honda, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson as the boxer Balrog, Eric André as the rambunctious ringside announcer Don Sauvage, and Alexander Volkanovski as Joe, an American martial artist you may remember from the very first Street Fighter game. Notably absent is Jason Momoa’s Blanka, but we thankfully get to see Brazil’s answer to renewable energy in character poster form.
The Best Easter Eggs in Street Fighter‘s Sneak Peek
Longtime Street Fighter players may recognize a few moves like Guile (Cody Rhodes) using his Somersault Kick to send Vega (Orville Peck) through a wall. That in turn feels like a pseudo-homage to Chun-Li kicking Vega through a wall in 1994’s Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie.
Speaking of which, there’s a look at a battle between Chun-Li, Vega, and Juli where it looks like she may have sent the clawed creep through the drywall again. You can spot Vega slumped behind a wall, but it’s hard to tell based on the angle.
Another wall-based beatdown involves Ryu (Andrew Koji) and Ken (Noah Centineo) sending an unwitting goon to the shadow realm. It looks like Ken’s Quick Step from the games, but that might be wishful thinking on my part.
If you look closely behind M. Bison’s head, you can see what appears to be an homage to the Bisonified version of Jacques-Louis David’s 1801 painting “Napoleon Crossing the Alps” in 1994’s Street Fighter: The Movie. Here though, it looks like it could be a parody of John Gast’s 1872 painting “American Progress,” with Bison taking the role of Manifest Destiny incarnate.
The footage ends with a nod to Street Fighter II’s iconic bonus stage that has players beat the ever-loving hell out of a Lexus LS400. Here we see Ken raising someone’s insurance rates, but if you look closely, you can spot the license plate is an exact match for the one in game: 1C29L679.
Street Fighter Unveiled a Whopping 17 Character Posters
As for the character posters, these give us out best look yet at nearly every character in the movie, 17 in all. Check the gallery out below (updating live).
What Is Street Fighter About and When Can You See It?
According to a press release from Paramount, here’s the official Street Fighter synopsis: “Set in 1993, estranged Street Fighters Ryu (Andrew Koji) and Ken Masters (Noah Centineo) are thrown back into combat when the mysterious Chun-Li (Callina Liang) recruits them for the next World Warrior Tournament: a brutal clash of fists, fate, and fury. But behind this battle royale lies a deadly conspiracy that forces them to face off against each other and the demons of their past. And if they don’t, it’s GAME OVER!”
As for when you can experience the martial arts mayhem for yourself, Legendary and Paramount’s Street Fighter is set to shoryuken its way into theaters on October 16, 2026.
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