Backn in 2022 came the news that “John Wick” creator and “Nobody” scribe Derek Kolstad was penning a spec script for a film adaptation of SEGA’s classic arcade game “Streets of Rage”.
The 1991 side-scroller follows several ex-police vigilantes – Axel Stone, Blaze Fielding, and Adam Hunter – trying to rid the fictional American metropolis of Wood Oak City of a crime syndicate run by the mysterious Mr. X that has corrupted its local government.
That essentially involved them walking in one direction, beating the crap out of anything that moves. The games in the series were noted for their fun tone and electronic dance music soundtracks by Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima.
At last report, Lionsgate had picked up the rights to the film adaptation with “Sonic” films producer dj2 Entertainment and “The Equalizer” films producer Escape Artists onboard.
In a recent interview with Screen Rant, Kolstad shared a disappointing update saying the project is currently stalled in development – or what he calls “actively inactive”. Even so, he remains passionate about that script:
I spent a lot of time on it… it’s such a cool script. I always talk about it’s 16 Blocks by way of The Raid. So, once you hit page 17, there’s no letting up until page 101. I haven’t heard anything about it for a while, but I love it.”
Kolstad, Toru Nakahara, Dmitri M. Johnson, Timothy I. Stevenson, Dan Jevons, Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, and Tony Shaw were all slated to produce at last report.
The most recent entry in the game series, “Streets of Rage 4,” was released in 2020 and sold well along with scoring much acclaim.
