The Legend of Chun Li

[Jennifer Walters]

Half the people I told about this today were extremly excited when I told them it would focus around Chun Li.

Ryu and Ken may be the MAIN STARS of the video game franchise, but sometimes in some franchises, the supporting characters are the ones that break out and become the hit with mainstream audiences, for Street Fighter, Chun Li was that character. Just like for Family Guy, it's Stewie. For Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Spike, etc, etc.

 

[The Shredder]

The existing special edition and commentary is already pretty amusing - gotta love DeSouza's admission that he wrote the script literally overnight.

Surprise. Surprise. t:

 

[Dangerous]

I think they should only do animated SF films.

 

[Bad Superman]

 

[Bishop2]

Surprise. Surprise. t:

Here's the long version - DeSouza said that he was called one afternoon by the producers who said they had a meeting with Capcom TOMORROW to prove that they were making headway on a Street Fighter movie. Problem? They had no script. He thought the timetable was insane, and they were all like "Well, if you can pull it off, we'll let you direct it." And of course he'd never directed anything in this life. So he accepted. And within 12 hours he had his kids teach him about Street Fighter, then sat down and wrote the script. They went to the meeting with Capcom and Capcom liked the script, because apparently they're morons.

So basically he only took the job because it let him get his first directing gig after being a prolific screenwriter for a while. And the producers are morons who couldn't be arsed to put a movie together until the last second.

 

[JackBauer]

Half the people I told about this today were extremly excited when I told them it would focus around Chun Li.

Ryu and Ken may be the MAIN STARS of the video game franchise, but sometimes in some franchises, the supporting characters are the ones that break out and become the hit with mainstream audiences, for Street Fighter, Chun Li was that character. Just like for Family Guy, it's Stewie. For Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Spike, etc, etc.

and everyone I told it to was like "WTF? Chun-Li? Why?".

face it, Chun-Li's extremely hot and all, but she ain't as cool a character as Stewie, Spike, and oh yes, Ryu and Ken.

 

[JackBauer]

Here's the long version - DeSouza said that he was called one afternoon by the producers who said they had a meeting with Capcom TOMORROW to prove that they were making headway on a Street Fighter movie. Problem? They had no script. He thought the timetable was insane, and they were all like "Well, if you can pull it off, we'll let you direct it." And of course he'd never directed anything in this life. So he accepted. And within 12 hours he had his kids teach him about Street Fighter, then sat down and wrote the script. They went to the meeting with Capcom and Capcom liked the script, because apparently they're morons.

So basically he only took the job because it let him get his first directing gig after being a prolific screenwriter for a while. And the producers are morons who couldn't be arsed to put a movie together until the last second.

hmm... now I'm starting to see how Uwe Boll gets work.

 

[Bishop2]

Spike sucks. Chun-Li is cool. She's a secret freaking agent who quests for vengeance!

 

[JackBauer]

Spike sucks. Chun-Li is cool. She's a secret freaking agent who quests for vengeance!

huh. vengeance. how exciting.

 

[huskerwebhead]

and everyone I told it to was like "WTF? Chun-Li? Why?".

face it, Chun-Li's extremely hot and all, but she ain't as cool a character as Stewie, Spike, and oh yes, Ryu and Ken.

I had the same reaction from people I told. Most didn't understand why Chun-Li was the lead and not Guile or Ryu. A couple people had to take a second to remember who Chun-Li was...and then they were confused just like the others. I think this is a bad way to go with this movie.

 

[Bishop2]

Chun-Li is a bigger character than Guile. At least she showed up in the Alpha games and in SF3.

However, yeah, it should be Ryu and/or Ken. They're the mainstays.

 

[JackBauer]

Chun-Li is a bigger character than Guile. At least she showed up in the Alpha games and in SF3.

However, yeah, it should be Ryu and/or Ken. They're the mainstays.

at least I can understand people asking about Guile. he was the main character in that god-awful movie. but thinking Chun-Li's more popular than Ryu and/or Ken? now that's just nuts.

 

[3dman27]

what is so wrong with looking at this as a spin off movie?

 

[OtepApe]

I see nothing wrong with making Chun Li the main character. She is one of the top tier characters of the franchise, an interesting back story....it could work.

The only reason Guile got top billing the awful live action movie was because Van Damme was it's biggest star and he was playing Guile.

I admit Ryu and Ken are the biggest stars of Street Fighter, but it's different to take th Chun Li route.

Plus, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie perfected the Ken/Ryu relationship that I just don't think can be topped.

 

[Bad Superman]

what is so wrong with looking at this as a spin off movie?

Catwoman rings a bell?

 

[Bishop2]

I see nothing wrong with making Chun Li the main character. She is one of the top tier characters of the franchise, an interesting back story....it could work.

The only reason Guile got top billing the awful live action movie was because Van Damme was it's biggest star and he was playing Guile.

DeSouza made Guile the lead before Van Damme was ever cast. Why? Simple - the character is American, and he wanted the lead star to be an American character.

As for Chun-Li... you know, I don't have a HUGE problem with it, but it IS illogical. Ryu and Ken are the obvious leads of the franchise. They've been in every game. Who's right behind them, though? Chun-Li and Sagat, pretty much, who have missed a few games but are roughly tied for second place in terms of their number of appearances. So you know, at least they chose someone who's a major player in the series. Could've been worse. It could've been a movie focused around, like, Sodom or something.

 

[Ronny Shade]

As long as they get the right actor and give him good lines.

That's the real trick isn't it [/han solo]

 

[OtepApe]

DeSouza made Guile the lead before Van Damme was ever cast. Why? Simple - the character is American, and he wanted the lead star to be an American character.

As for Chun-Li... you know, I don't have a HUGE problem with it, but it IS illogical. Ryu and Ken are the obvious leads of the franchise. They've been in every game. Who's right behind them, though? Chun-Li and Sagat, pretty much, who have missed a few games but are roughly tied for second place in terms of their number of appearances. So you know, at least they chose someone who's a major player in the series. Could've been worse. It could've been a movie focused around, like, Sodom or something.

Well, they could have easily have made Ken the lead character. He's American, one of the actual lead characters from the game and would also have been a character that could have gotten over really well, if treated correctly.

 

[Bishop2]

Well, they could have easily have made Ken the lead character. He's American, one of the actual lead characters from the game and would also have been a character that could have gotten over really well, if treated correctly.

Frankly, considering that he learned everything he knows about Street Fighter and then wrote the script all within 12 hours, we're lucky he even figured out that Bison was a villian, Guille's a military man, Chun-Li is mad about her father's death and Balrog is a boxer. Seriously, if you gave me 12 hours to learn everything there was to know about something I know NOTHING of, I'd probably churn out a piece of crap embarassment, too.

 

[OtepApe]

Frankly, considering that he learned everything he knows about Street Fighter and then wrote the script all within 12 hours, we're lucky he even figured out that Bison was a villian, Guille's a military man, Chun-Li is mad about her father's death and Balrog is a boxer. Seriously, if you gave me 12 hours to learn everything there was to know about something I know NOTHING of, I'd probably churn out a piece of crap embarassment, too.

Yeah, that I can agree with. Although it was the morons who greenlighted the thing that should have though better. I am guessing the movie didn't do too well financially, which is what they would have been hoping for.

 

[The Shredder]

Here's the long version - DeSouza said that he was called one afternoon by the producers who said they had a meeting with Capcom TOMORROW to prove that they were making headway on a Street Fighter movie. Problem? They had no script. He thought the timetable was insane, and they were all like "Well, if you can pull it off, we'll let you direct it." And of course he'd never directed anything in this life. So he accepted. And within 12 hours he had his kids teach him about Street Fighter, then sat down and wrote the script. They went to the meeting with Capcom and Capcom liked the script, because apparently they're morons.

So basically he only took the job because it let him get his first directing gig after being a prolific screenwriter for a while. And the producers are morons who couldn't be arsed to put a movie together until the last second.

Thanks, Bishop2 for the more elaborate version of what happened.

I suppose what it boiled down to with Capcom and whatever studio it was that distributed the film (I forgot) was the fact that Van Damme would star in it. At the time, Van Damme was a fairly bankable star and they just probably thought that even if the script was mediocre, they would still get a bundle of cash from this project. Unfortunately, I don't think thats exactly what happened. And ultimately the live action Street Fighter movie was just another film that contributed to Van Damme's string of less than spectacular showings at the box office.

 

[Bishop2]

I suppose what it boiled down to with Capcom and whatever studio it was that distributed the film (I forgot) was the fact that Van Damme would star in it. At the time, Van Damme was a fairly bankable star and they just probably thought that even if the script was mediocre, they would still get a bundle of cash from this project. Unfortunately, I don't think thats exactly what happened. And ultimately the live action Street Fighter movie was just another film that contributed to Van Damme's string of less than spectacular showings at the box office.

It's actually Van Damme's biggest box office hit, which is why he was trying to convince Universal to make a sequel about three or four years ago!

However, being his biggest box office hit doesn't really translate to "success" in this instance, because Universal sank a LOT of cash into it - it cost a lot more than most Van Damme flicks did back then. And if you can't make back your budget, you're usually a failure. So thankfully, his attempts to get a sequel pushed through never actually came to fruition.

(Actually, going back even farther, Universal's DTV division was talking about doing a sequel after they did the Darkman and Tremors sequels back in '96. The sequel they were discussing didn't sound too bad - only Ryu and Ken would've come back, and at one point they were looking at Akuma as a possible new villian - but since it would've been DTV and would've used the same actors from the first film, I doubt it would've been worth much.)

 

[Jager X]

if bison's going to be the main villain then they should focus on chun li and guile imo. i've always seen street fighter 2 being truly won by guile anyways which is probably why he barely,if ever, appears in any of the other sf sequals.

 

[The Shredder]

It's actually Van Damme's biggest box office hit, which is why he was trying to convince Universal to make a sequel about three or four years ago!

However, being his biggest box office hit doesn't really translate to "success" in this instance, because Universal sank a LOT of cash into it - it cost a lot more than most Van Damme flicks did back then. And if you can't make back your budget, you're usually a failure. So thankfully, his attempts to get a sequel pushed through never actually came to fruition.

(Actually, going back even farther, Universal's DTV division was talking about doing a sequel after they did the Darkman and Tremors sequels back in '96. The sequel they were discussing didn't sound too bad - only Ryu and Ken would've come back, and at one point they were looking at Akuma as a possible new villian - but since it would've been DTV and would've used the same actors from the first film, I doubt it would've been worth much.)

Ah, ok.

I thought it was bascially a bomb at the box office. But maybe I'm just remembering everyone talk about how muched it sucked? Maybe it was Van Damme's Sudden Death that started his downward spiral at the box office, but I was almost for sure (without having to look it up) it began with Street Fighter. Oh well.

Interesting tidbit on the proposed DTV sequels. I had no idea that the idea was even being entertained. Would have been interesting to see how different or what kind of direction they would have wanted to take the franchise at that point I suppose ...

 

[Wolfwood]

They put out a special edition of Street Fighter with commentary?

....Well I guess I know what DVD I'm hunting down next.