Streets of Rage movie by John Wick creator picked up by Lionsgate

Lionsgate has picked up a new Streets of Rage movie from John Wick creator Derek Kolstad, which will see the classic beat-'em-up series muscle its way onto the big screen for the first time after more than 30 years.

The upcoming Streets of Rage movie is being written and produced by Derek Kolstad, writer and creator of the John Wick series, per an exclusive report on Deadline, who previously broke the existence of the planned movie earlier this year. With Lionsgate now acquiring the rights to the film, it looks like it's full steam ahead for the big-screen adaptation of the classic brawler.

John Wick creator set to bring Streets of Rage to the big screen

In promising news, Kolstad will be joined by Toru Nakahara on the Sega side, who previously produced the two successful live action Sonic movies, and Dmitri M. Johnson from dj2 — a firm that specialises in adapting gaming properties for cinema — who also worked on the Sonic movies, among other projects. “When Dmitri first mentioned the idea of cracking a Streets of Rage movie, I was so immediately freaking in," Kolstad told Deadline. "And to play with Sega? The 10-year-old me is still grinning.”

We don't have much more to go on yet as it still seems the project is in the relatively early stages, so no word on release window or casting yet. Presumably, the movie will involve a few buff people walking to the right, beating up a the same handful of extras over and over again, and eating food they find in bins along the way. Seriously, though, this crew has a solid track record in video game adaptations, and Streets of Rage's simple setup should make it easier than most to spin out into a feature film, plus Kolstad clearly knows a thing or two about great action sequences.

The latest game in the series, the rather excellent Streets of Rage 4, was previously one of the best Game Pass games, but it was sadly removed from the service earlier this year. Interested in seeing how the Streets of Rage movie pans out? Let's hear your thoughts and fun casting suggestions down in the comments!

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Written by Luke Albigés

Luke runs the TA news team, contributing where he can primarily with reviews and other long-form features — crafts he has honed across two decades of print and online gaming media experience, having worked with the likes of gamesTM, Eurogamer, Play, Retro Gamer, Edge, and many more. He loves all things Monster Hunter, enjoys a good D&D session, and has played way too much Destiny.