Sega’s Streets of Rage movie is now being written by the duo behind the Sonic the Hedgehog films
The film also has a new BAFTA award-winning director
The upcoming live-action Streets of Rage movie has a new director and new writers.
As reported by Variety, an early draft of the screenplay had been written by Derek Kolstad (John Wick) in 2022 when Lionsgate acquired the rights to the film.
Kolstad has now left the project, and Streets of Rage now has two new writers, Pat Casey and Josh Miller.
Casey and Miller are best known as the co-writers of all three Sonic the Hedgehog movies, as well as the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 4, so their relationship with Sega IP is already established.
As well as its new writers, Streets of Rage also now has a confirmed director, with Jaymes Samuel helming the project.
Samuel – who’s also a singer-songwriter who goes by the name The Bullitts – won a BAFTA for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer in 2021 for his film directorial debut, The Harder they Fall.
No further details on the Streets of Rage movie have been confirmed, but Variety reports that it will be leaning “heavily into the cult classic game known for its iconic characters, acclaimed electronic soundtracks and beat ’em up action”.
Streets of Rage began life as a trilogy of beat ’em ups released by Sega in 1991, 1992 and 1994. After this the series went into hibernation, until it was revived in 2020 with the critically acclaimed Streets of Rage 4, developed by Dotemu and Lizardcube.
As well as the upcoming film, Sega has confirmed that a new Streets of Rage game is in development, alongside upcoming reboots of Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio and Golden Axe.
