Report: Street Fighter returning to the big screen

Street Fighter's previous cracks at the big screen haven't fared so well. It debuted as a lighthearted theme for a fight scene in Jackie Chan's tepid manga-to-movie effort City Hunter and then received a movie of its own in 1994 with Street Fighter. The action flick starring "The Muscles from Brussels" Jean-Claude Van Damme in the lead role as the American fighter, Guile, was poorly received and served as an unfortunate swan song for the career of Raul Julia, who played M. Bison.

Capcom apparently hopes that the third time is the charm, as film industry trade publication Variety is reporting that the publisher has teamed up with production company Hyde Park Entertainment (What's the Worst That Could Happen?, Shopgirl) to make another feature film for the fighting franchise. Slated for 2008 (to coincide with Street Fighter's 20th anniversary), the film will reportedly feature a script penned by Justin Marks, who is also handling the big-screen adaptation of Voltron. The film will be a joint venture between Capcom and Hyde Park Entertainment, but the Variety report mentions no actors or crewmembers that have been attached to the project yet.

A Capcom of America representative would not comment on the report.