New Street Fighter film, game launches will 'coincide'

Street Fighter IV will be a movie tie-in? Sort of, according to Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li producer Patrick Aiello. Speaking with industry news site GameDaily, Aiello said that while The Legend of Chun-Li and SFIV won't have much in common from a storyline perspective, "the film and game release dates will coincide." According to 20th Century Fox, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li is slated to swoop into theaters February 27.

Addressing the thematic differences between The Legend of Chun-Li and SFIV, Aiello noted that the film focuses on "a very partitioned off origin story of the Street Fighter universe." Of particular note, Aiello said in June that two of the game's best-known, and oft-played, fighters--Ken and Ryu--won't make an appearance in the film. "There are just way too many characters in the Street Fighter universe to cram them all into one film," said Aiello via the movie's official blog. "We want to do each one the justice he/she deserves."

Smallville starlet Kristen Kreuk will take on the titular role of Chun-Li in the film, with Michael Clarke Duncan (The Green Mile, Daredevil) donning knuckle dusters as Balrog, Chris Klein (American Pie, Rollerball) as Guile compatriot Nash, and Rick Yune (The Fast and the Furious, Alone in the Dark II) as wizened master Gen. Hyde Park Entertainment has cast Neal McDonough (Band of Brothers, They Call Him Sasquatch) as Chun-Li's archenemy, M. Bison. The film is being helmed by Andrzej Bartkowiak, director of the critically and commercially unsuccessful film adaptation of Doom.

As for the game, Street Fighter IV burst onto the Japanese arcade scene earlier this year, with cabinets only just recently finding their way to US coin-ops. For more details on the home version--slated to appear on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC--check out GameSpot's previous coverage.