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Entertainment industry news source Variety reported on Monday that Lionsgate has signed up director Jeymes Samuel (The Harder They Fall, The Book of Clarence) and writers Pat Casey and Josh Miller (live-action Sonic the Hedgehog films, Violent Night films) for the live-action film of Sega’s Streets of Rage game.
John Wick franchise creator Derek Kolstad previously wrote a draft of the script and was set to produce, but Variety reports that Kolstad is no longer involved.
Toru Nakahara (live-action Sonic the Hedgehog film producer), Story Kitchen’s Dmitri M. Johnson, Michael Lawrence Goldberg, Timothy I. Stevenson, and dj2 Entertainment and Escape Artists will produce the film. dj2 Entertainment previously produced the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog films. Brady Fujikawa and Jon Humphrey are managing the project at Lionsgate with overseers Shuji Utsumi and Nakahara for Sega, Dmitri M. Johnson for dj2, and Tony Shaw for Escape Artists. Dj2’s Dan Jevons and Escape Artists’ Todd Black and Jason Blumenthal will also be producing.
Sega announced in 2023 it is developing a new entry in the Streets of Rage franchise, later revealed to be Streets of Rage: Revolution.
Sega released the first installment in the Streets of Rage series (Bare Knuckle in Japan) for the Sega Mega Drive and Sega Genesis in 1991. The Streets of Rage 2 sequel game released in 1992 and Streets of Rage 3 released in 1994. Paris-based developer and publisher Dotemu collaborated with Paris-based company Lizardcube and Montréal-based Guard Crush Games to release Streets of Rage 4 in April 2020.
Variety reported in 2016 that Sega was planning a film or television adaptation of the franchise. At the time the report stated the adaptation was a collaboration between Stories International — the joint venture of Sega Group and Hakuhodo DY Group for film and television projects — and production company Circle of Confusion. Deadline’s report from Monday stated Circle of Confusion is one of the companies that represents Kolstad.
Source: Variety (Jennifer Maas)
