Street Fighter (1994)

Street Fighter is a 1994 action film written and directed by Steven E. de Souza, based on the video game series of the same name produced by Capcom. Distributed by Universal Pictures in the United States and Columbia Pictures internationally, the film stars Jean-Claude Van Damme and Raul Julia (in his final film) along with supporting performances by Byron Mann, Damian Chapa, Kylie Minogue, Ming-Na Wen and Wes Studi. Loosely following the plot of Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, the film focuses on the efforts of Colonel Guile (Van Damme) to bring down General M. Bison (Juliá), the military dictator and drug kingpin of Shadaloo City who aspires to conquer the world with an army of genetic supersoldiers, while enlisting the aid of street fighters Ryu (Mann) and Ken (Chapa) to infiltrate Bison’s empire and help destroy it from within. The film was commercially successful, with a worldwide box office gross approximately three times its production costs,

and its home video releases and television broadcasts were also profitable, with the film earning Capcom a return of ¥15.5 billion ($165 million) from the box office and home media. However, it was not well-received by critics for its campy tone, unfaithfulness to the source material and overblown effects. Raúl Juliá’s performance as M. Bison, however, was singled out for widespread critical acclaim and garnered him a posthumous nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the Saturn Awards, while the film was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film. The film was Julia’s final theatrical performance, as he died of a stroke two months before the film’s release; the film is dedicated to his memory. An intended reboot, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, was released in 2009 to critical and commercial failure, while a much more positively-received British television series focusing on Ryu and Ken, Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist, was released in 2014.

Plot.

In the Southeast Asian nation of Shadaloo, civil war has erupted between the forces of drug lord-turned General M. Bison and the Allied Nations led by Colonel William F. Guile. Bison has captured several A.N. relief workers, and via a live two-way radio broadcast, demands Guile secure a US$20 billion ransom in three days. Guile refuses and vows to track Bison down and place him on trial for his crimes, but his assistant, Sergeant Cammy White, is only partially able to pinpoint Bison’s location to the river-delta region outside the city. One hostage is Guile’s friend Sergeant Carlos “Charlie” Blanka, who Bison orders taken to his lab for his captive doctor and scientist, Dhalsim, to turn into the first of his supersoldiers. Though Charlie is severely disfigured by the procedure, Dhalsim secretly alters his cerebral programming to maintain Charlie’s humanity. American con artists Ryu Hoshi and Ken Masters attempt to swindle arms dealer Viktor Sagat by providing him with fake weaponry. Sagat sees through the ruse and has Ryu fight his cage champion, Vega, but Guile bursts in and arrests everyone present for violating a curfew.

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In the prison grounds, Guile witnesses Ryu and Ken fighting Sagat’s men, and recruits them to help him find Bison in exchange for their freedom, since Sagat is Bison’s arms supplier. They are given a homing device and win Sagat’s trust by staging a prison escape and faking Guile’s death. However, news reporter Chun-Li, whose father was killed by Bison, and her crew, former sumo wrestler Edmond Honda and boxer Balrog, who are out for revenge against Sagat for ruining their careers, stumble across the plan. Over Guile’s objections, they attempt to assassinate the two warlords at a party. To maintain Bison’s trust, Ryu and Ken stop the assassination and reveal the conspirators to Bison. Returning to his base, Bison inducts Ryu and Ken into his organization and orders Honda and Balrog imprisoned and Chun-Li taken to his quarters. Ryu and Ken break Balrog and Honda out of confinement and rush to confront Bison, who is fighting Chun-Li, but Bison escapes and releases sleeping gas, sedating them all. Guile plans his assault on Bison’s base.

Production.

The film’s production budget was ¥4 billion ($35 million), with Capcom alone financing most of the budget. Because Capcom was co-financier of the film, every aspect of the production required their approval. Among other points, they mandated a December 1994 release date, which required the cast and crew to maintain an aggressive filming schedule. DeSouza says he wrote the initial draft of the script overnight, being made aware that Capcom executives were in Los Angeles on short notice and because he himself was a fan of the game. Capcom had long envisioned Jean-Claude Van Damme as Guile and asked him to be cast. Raúl Juliá said that he accepted the role of Bison because his children are huge fans of the video game series. After Van Damme and Juliá were cast as Guile and Bison, most of the casting budget had been spent. Van Damme’s fee alone took nearly $8 million of the film’s $35-million budget.

Release, Box office, Home media.

Street Fighter had opened in New York and Los Angeles on December 23, 1994. The film earned $3,124,775 on its opening day. It grossed $9,508,030 on its opening weekend, ranking at #3 behind Dumb and Dumber and The Santa Clause at the box office. On its second weekend it grossed $7,178,360 and dropped down to #7. The film grossed $33,423,521 at the domestic box office and $66,000,000 at the international box office, making a total of $99,423,521 worldwide. The film was released on the VHS format in 1995, initially for video rental stores. In the United States, the film sold more than 250,000 rental tapes in 1995. The film was also broadcast on cable television, and later released on DVD, Blu-ray, and digital streaming. The film’s home video releases and television broadcasts have been profitable for Capcom, which earned a return of ¥15.5 billion ($165 million) from the film’s box office and home media revenue.