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A Streets of Rage movie written by John Wick's creator is on the way

Lionsgate snagged the rights to bring Sega's classic beat-'em-up series to the big screen.

Dotemu/Yooreka Studio

I hope you're not yet tired of the current avalanche of video game adaptations, because another fun-sounding one is on the way. Lionsgate has picked up the rights to make a Streets of Rage movie, which is being written and produced by John Wick creator Derek Kolstad. Production companies dj2 Entertainment and Escape Artists, which are involved in the Sonic the Hedgehog movies, are on board as well.

It was reported earlier this year that Kolstad was working on a Streets of Rage movie. While the games don't exactly have a rich narrative to speak of, the beat-'em-up series fits right within Nobody writer Kolstad's oeuvre of gritty, violent action. The series seems ripe for the picking after a successful revival in 2020 with Streets of Rage 4.

“When [dj2 CEO Dmitri M. Johnson] first mentioned the idea of cracking a Streets of Rage movie, I was so immediately freaking in,” Kolstad said in a statement, according to Variety. “And to play with Sega? The 10-year-old me is still grinning.”

Lionsgate will also put out the Borderlands movie, which completed filming last year but doesn't yet have a release date. Among the many, many other movies and TV shows based on games that are in the works is a Ghost of Tsushima film, on which Chad Stahelski, the director of all four John Wick movies, is taking the reins.