Street Fighter movie loses directors

Last year, Legendary announced that it had secured the rights to adapt Capcom's popular fighting game series Street Fighter for both film and television. Talk To Me directors Danny and Michael Philippou also signed on to direct the film. However, plans have changed and the Philippou brothers are no longer directing the Street Fighter film.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, one of the main reasons for the Philippous' exit is that Legendary and Capcom want to start production sooner than the brothers were willing to commit. The Philippous already have their next film, Bring Her Back, in the pipeline at A24, starring Sally Hawkins and Billy Barratt. Production on that film will begin later this month.

It's unclear how far along the script for Street Fighter was, but Legendary is already looking for a new director. The video game series began in 1987 with the first Street Fighter in arcades. However, the games didn't become a worldwide sensation until 1991, when Street Fighter II was a blockbuster hit in arcades and later on consoles. Several sequels and spin-off games have been produced over the past few decades. Street Fighter 6 is the latest release.

There have also been two American Street Fighter live-action films to date. The first was released in 1994 and starred Jean-Claude Van Damme, Ming-Na Wen, Kylie Minogue and the late Raul Julia. Kristin Kreuk played the lead role in the reboot film Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, which flopped in theaters in 2009.