No Ryu or Ken for Street Fighter film

By Robert Purchese Published 4 June, 2008

Which is not camp or cheesy or funny.

Our Hollywood Wednesday continues with word that Ryu and Ken will not be in the upcoming Street Fighter film.

Not enough room for them, according to the official movie blog, as this one is about Chun-Li and diverting attention would be unfair on all the characters.

"There are just way too many characters in the Street Fighter universe to cram them all into one film," said producer Patrick Aiello.

"We want to do each one the justice he/she deserves. So, in short, Ken and Ryu will not be appearing in this film. But, that doesn't mean we wont see our red and white-clad heroes in potential sequels..."

The blog went on to put the community brain to rest about the film being a camp ham-up of the iconic fighting game, dismissing images such as Jean-Claude Van Damme in a leotard dancing his little heart out.

"Regarding the tone, I'm pleased to say we are certainly not going for camp or cheese or any kind of laughs," added Aaron Horwitz, blog overlord. "While we're definitely not trying to make the next Citizen Kane, we are going for a somewhat more realistic, gritty, dramatic and, oh yes, action-packed direction than you might expect.

"Now, as a result of this approach, it'd be silly to put Neal McDonough's Bison in a bright red suit and captain's hat with a pair of humongous shoulder pads. It works great in the videogame, but in real life, it just wouldn't look intimidating.

"The same can be said for Balrog. He's an enforcer. A killer. A take-no-shit brawler to the core. And so, how scary would he be on screen if he beat people up with boxing gloves and a pair of blue short-shorts?" added Horwitz.

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li is shooting right now in Thailand, and stars Kristin Kreuk from Smallville as the bun-sporting and blue dress-wearing heroine. She's doing rather well, apparently.

"Kristin is doing things you just plain won't believe. I can't count the number of baddies she's dismantled thus far on all my fingers and toes," added Horwitz.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (47) Latest comment 4 years ago

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  • LazyDan #1 4 years ago

    No Ryu or Ken in a Street Fighter film is like Mario not being in Smash Brothers.

    Hey at least they're trying to make it not-terrible though. Here's to it not being gash! HIP HIP, HOORAY!

  • Quint2020 #2 4 years ago

    WHAT!?

    Film fucking fails, just watch the anime, you even get a Chun Li shower scene!

  • Prodigy_BE #3 4 years ago

    Not a smart choice. The rivalry between Ken and Ryu seemed like a great tool for a good script.
    The writer also did Masters of The Universe (you know, from those gay he-man dolls), so I'm expecting a big fail on the sript department.

    Female leads are always less succesfull at the box office. Certainly in these kind of films.
    50 million dollar down the drain, imo.

    Oh well, as long as that SF2 HD remake and SF IV are ace, you don't hear me complaining.

  • Razorus #4 4 years ago

    "Now, as a result of this approach, it'd be silly to put Neal McDonough's Bison in a bright red suit and captain's hat with a pair of humongous shoulder pads."

    Epic Fail. I'm hoping this film will pleasantly surprise me, but the more I hear about it, the lower my expectations become.

  • Gnort #5 4 years ago

    Not putting Ryu or Ken in a Street Fighter film is tantamount to admitting that you weren't actually making a Street Fighter film, you've just somehow convinced studio executives to let you do a live-action version of your Chun-Li slash fiction.

  • muscleblade #6 4 years ago

    The Balrog boxing gloves has always annoyed me like crazy in the game(s). Using boxing gloves is never an advantage. Vegas claws is another matter. I guess they really wanted to give him the look of a boxer with the whole Tyson look and all.

  • muscleblade #7 4 years ago

    Take it easy the sequel will be about Ken and Ryu.

  • Gnort #8 4 years ago

    When this one bombs, you really think people will green-light a sequel?

  • thefilthandthefury #9 4 years ago

    This is stupid. I don't even like Ryu or Ken, to be honest, but how the hell can you call this Street Fighter without them?

  • DFawkes #10 4 years ago

    Well now this movie officially sucks. Yes, I reserve the right to form pre-conceived ideas of the movie by the fact they don't seem to "get" the story, the same way Uwe Boll took "Vampires vs nazis" of Bloodrayne and just forgot half of it.

    Don't get me wrong, I'll probably watch it and form an informed opinion in the future, but until then FAIL :p

  • penhalion #11 4 years ago

    If capcom have any say in this I would strongly suggest that now is the time to pull the plug!

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #12 4 years ago

    I'd be far more interested if it was campy and funny and Bison had the shoulder-pads. Raul Julia was the best thing about the last Streetfighter movie.

  • Ainudil #13 4 years ago

    "I cant count the number of baddies she's dismantled thus far on all my fingers and toes," added Horwitz"

    Since he has 24 of 'em, we just know this is going to be epic.

  • menage #14 4 years ago

    Baddest design choice ever. What the hell are they thinking. If I had to pick 2 chara's it would be them. It's always been about them.

  • Paleface #15 4 years ago

    There are just way too many characters in the Street Fighter universe to cram them all into one film

    Right, so leave out two of the more well-known and recognized ones?

    The only way they could salvage this is to put Twelve in. Because, you know, if you want to leave out Ryu and Ken, you may as well go the whole "alienate the casual market" distance. Twelve, Q, and Urien's pants.

  • HermitArcader #16 4 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:17:39 22-12-2011

  • aidey6 #17 4 years ago

    So who is this film aimed at then???!!!!, as LazyDan says SF without Ryu and Ken is just dumb. She was rubbish in Smallville, the best actress in that is Alison Mack (Chloe Sullivan).

    I reckon they probably went after some reasonably well known actors for the role(of Ken and Ryu), they read the script and said laters........!!!!!!

  • oMonarca #18 4 years ago

    From a plot perspective, in the original SFII, Chun Li has more going for her than Ryu and Ken combined. Her is a tale of vengeance, while Ken entered the tournament to impress his gf and Ryu to fight the good fight.

    IMHO, a movie about Ken and Ryu, a tale of rivalry properly done, wouldn't leave much space for anyone else.

    I think it's cool they start with Chun Li. She's hot, she kicks ass and has the potential for some emotional layers that give depth to the movie.

    Quite curious about this one.

  • megastar #19 4 years ago

    thats gay

  • ZeroAX #20 4 years ago

    next up: Prince of Persia the movie. where the prince is not on the script and his girlfriend that disappears after the first game is the star

  • Camorrista #21 4 years ago

    He called He-Man gay!

    Get him!

  • mingster #22 4 years ago

    No Ken or Ryo is sacrilege!! It shouldn't be allowed. Capcom please do something.

  • GordonCaladan #23 4 years ago

    Srsly. Not one Street Fighter fan feels anything but contempt at this sad attempt at a movie.

  • mingster #24 4 years ago

    Although Kristin Kreuk is a hottie... worth watching just for her.

  • muscleblade #25 4 years ago

    Im a huge SF fan and i actually think this movie has potential.

  • legendmir #26 4 years ago

    just wait for it you bunch of gashers

  • Steroyd #27 4 years ago

    ...wtf!?

    THE two most instantly recognisable chars in the SF universe not in!?

    /sees mainstream appeal fly out the window

  • tomdominer #28 4 years ago

    Idiots

  • Remy #29 4 years ago

    Hmm, well I'm a big enough fangeek to have a friggin' SF screen-name and I think this movie has a lot of potential. Ken & Ryu are the worst & least interesting two characters in all of Street Fighter and I'm overjoyed they will not be appearing in the film. They are worthy of a cameo at most. But only if the cameo also features Birdie leaping over a scrubby Ryu fireball and super grabbing him. HAR HAR.

  • Wyrm #30 4 years ago

    Fail.

  • varsas #31 4 years ago

    /sees mainstream appeal fly out the window

    /sees mainstream appeal improve dramatically.
    Edited by 1 at 04/06/08 @ 14:13

  • penhalion #32 4 years ago

    Let's face it, this is rediculous. If they are going for a realistic non-camp movie, then what's left?

    This is going to be a martial arts movie where the only resemblance to street figher is the character names. Non-camp means no spinning bird kicks, no fast feet etc. etc. Just some bourne supremacy style brawling. If they had said it would be more along the lines of Hero or something like that I would have said yay count me in for a seat. As it stands it's going to be dire.

  • muscleblade #33 4 years ago

    "Raul Julia was the best thing about the last Streetfighter movie. "

    Doesnt say much does it. The least worst thing is more accurate.

  • hiddenranbir #34 4 years ago

    Of course no Ken or Ryu.

    Remember this is about Chun Li...who is NOT a sex symbol...honest...

  • reality_cheque #35 4 years ago

    "The Balrog boxing gloves has always annoyed me like crazy in the game(s). Using boxing gloves is never an advantage."

    Except it adds a fair bit of weight to your fist, and if you think Balrog wouldn't have steel-plated gloves then you don't know Balrog ;-)

  • mattigan #36 4 years ago

    HANOCANDOKEN!!! or Ryu.....


    /Gets coat

  • Freek #37 4 years ago

    The fact that they say they can't do them justice explains allot. Ken and Ryu are important characters. Just putting in some cameo appearances wouldn't make sense, so they're saving them for another movie.

  • DFawkes #38 4 years ago

    @JSPOOLE

    Smallville has already blessed us with a KK show scene, and I'm all for more in this movie. They give us that shower scene, I'll forgive the Ryu omission.

  • SomaticSense #39 4 years ago

    "Not enough room for them, according to the official movie blog, as this one is about Kristen Kreuk and her amazing hotness and diverting attention would be unfair on all the characters.

    Fixed for the hidden truth :p

    Paraphrase: "Chun-Li is not just a sex-symbol, she is the soul of the series"

    Um, yeah, whatever you say....

  • Pulsar_t #40 4 years ago

    Raul Julia was awesome. Truly, truly awesome.

    This user speaks the truth! :D

  • Chufty #41 4 years ago

    I cant believe people were expecting it to be good, watchable and/or successful even before they made this announcement.

    It's a film about a fucking videogame, for Christ's sake...

  • Diabeu #42 4 years ago

    who cares about Ryu and Ken? BRING ON BISON!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • patchbox360 #43 4 years ago

    no sale

  • The-Bodybuilder #44 4 years ago

    Thumbs up at mattigan.

  • Dynamize #45 4 years ago

    Every Bison Dollar will be worth FIVE British pounds. For that is the exchange rate the Bank of England will set once I've kidnapped their queen.

  • SomaticSense #46 4 years ago

    "I cant believe people were expecting it to be good, watchable and/or successful even before they made this announcement.

    It's a film about a fucking videogame, for Christ's sake...     "

    I don't believe anyone did expect it to be good. People are just surprised at exactly how bad and unrelated to the games it'll be, and how much of a cock the creators seem to be about it.

  • MBar #47 4 years ago

    Holy fucking shit.

    The original Street Fighter game. Who were the two playable characters?

    That's right. Ryu and Ken.

    I'm sorry. This is no longer a Street Fighter movie.