During a June 20 shareholder’s meeting, Capcom revealed that its 1994 Street Fighter film starring Jean-Claude Van Damme still makes “millions of yen” every year.
The classic ‘so good it’s bad’ video game adaptation turns 30 this year — and as Capcom starts working on the Street Fighter franchise’s next forthcoming film with Legendary, it revealed some unexpected info about its predecessor.
Nearly 30 years later, the OG live-action Street Fighter movie continues to pay dividends for Capcom, with the company claiming as much in a shareholders meeting.
As told by translated notes taken from an attendee at the meeting, the ’94 flick “still makes tens of millions of yen every year.”
a specific bit of info from Capcom's latest shareholder meeting is buzzing rn: the Van Damme Street Fighter movie continues to bring in tens of millions of yen per year🇯🇵 https://t.co/l1kIfj5TVy
— GSK | https://cohost.org/gosokkyu (@gosokkyu) June 20, 2024
It’s important to note that the Yen is significantly different from the Dollar, meaning that this actually isn’t as much as it seems on the outset for Western fans. Tens of millions of Yen converts to hundreds of thousands of dollars — and although we’re not sure how much that translates to in Bison bucks, it’s certainly an interesting anomaly, nevertheless.
The attendee claimed that this information was used as an example of “how to monetize IP during discussions about the Onimusha anime on Netflix,” which was released on the streaming platform in 2023.
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In April of that same year, it was reported that Legendary had acquired rights for a Street Fighter film and TV series, which was set to be directed by twin brothers Daniel and Michael Philippou of ‘Talk to Me’ fame.
However, as of June 2024, the film has lost the directorial duo due to scheduling conflicts, as Capcom reportedly wants to begin working on the movie sooner rather than later.
Given Capcom’s recent efforts in ‘monetizing’ its IPs — as seen in the upcoming Street Fighter film, the Onimusha Netflix adaptation, and both the live-action and animated Resident Evil adaptations on the streaming platform — it looks like the company is raring to enter the fray as more and more video games get the Hollywood treatment.
The 1994 Street Fighter II movie starred martial artist and actor Jean-Claude Van Damme as Guile, as well as the late great Raul Julia as M. Bison, Mulan’s Ming-Na Wen as Chun-Li, and Avatar’s Wes Studi as Sagat.
Although the film is known for its campy nature and cheesy acting, it’s become a staple among fighting game fans, and it’s clear that it continues to hold a special place in viewers’ hearts 30 years later if the financials are anything to go by.