John Wick creator turning Sega’s Streets of Rage into a movie

A Streets of Rage movie adaptation is in the works from John Wick franchise creator Derek Kolstad, according to a report from Deadline. Kolstad reportedly wrote the film’s script. Sonic the Hedgehog producer dj2 Entertainment and Escape Artists (Equalizer) will produce the adaptation, Deadline said.

The Sega franchise Streets of Rage saw its long-awaited video game follow-up in Streets of Rage 4 in 2020, continuing the side-scrolling beat-’em-up series that originated with Streets of Rage in 1991. The first game was published on Sega’s Genesis console and centered on ex-police fighting a crime syndicate. The series went on a decades-long break after Streets of Rage 3 — aside from re-releases — until Streets of Rage 4 came out in 2020 from Lizardcube, Guard Crush Games, and Dotemu.

The latest release was a hit; Polygon editor-in-chief Chris Plante, reviewing it for the site, said it was “everything [he] could have wanted from a true Streets of Rage sequel.”

Production company dj2 Entertainment has a string of video game-inspired live-action adaptations in the works, including projects based on Disco Elysium, Life is Strange, and It Takes Two. Sega has aggressively pursued adaptations of its back catalog, with limited success outside of the Sonic the Hedgehog movies. The publisher has previously announced live-action adaptations of classic Sega brands like Shinobi, Altered Beast, and the more obscure Rent-A-Hero. (Kolstad’s film is the second announced Streets of Rage adaptation.)