Earlier in the year, it was announced that Sega was looking to get a film adaptation made based on their classic beat-’em-up series Streets of Rage (or Bare Knuckle, if you’re nerdy). Today, Lionsgate has announced that they’ve acquired the rights for the film, which is being written and produced by Derek Kolstad (John Wick, Nobody).
Per IGN, in addition to Lionsgate’s involvement, Sega’s Toru Nakahara and dj2 Entertainment’s Dmitri M. Johnson, Timothy I. Stevenson and Dan Jevons will produce the Streets of Rage film alongside Kolstad. Nakahara is no stranger to producing adaptations of Sega’s franchises, having produced the first two Sonic the Hedgehog movies. He’ll also be overseeing the project for Sega, alongside Shuji Utsumi.
Kolstad stated that working on the film fulfils a childhood dream. “When Dmitri first mentioned the idea of cracking a Streets of Rage movie, I was so immediately freaking in. And to play with Sega? The 10-year-old me is still grinning.”
Johnson, who also co-produced the Sonic the Hedgehog films (as well as currently pegged to produce upcoming adaptations of Life Is Strange and Disco Elysium for Amazon), shares Kolstad’s love for the franchise. “I’ve wanted to make a Streets of Rage film since I was 12 years old,” he added. “This has shaped up to become a ‘dream project’ alongside a ‘dream team.’”
Meanwhile, Lionsgate is currently working on Eli Roth‘s upcoming adaptation of Gearbox Entertainment’s Borderlands, which most recently had footage released at CinemaCon earlier this year.