During this week\u2019s CinemaCon, movie fans were treated to a new Street Fighter<\/em> trailer. And it looks\u2026incredibly silly, in not just a good way, but an interesting one.<\/p>\n Now more than ever, IP adaptations are judged by the amount of instant fidelity to the source material they show. \u201cWhen will Daredevil get his double-Ds?,\u201d \u201cBatman should have the white eyes,\u201d and other similar talking points can overwhelm general discussion as everyone tries to link that to the creators\u2019 devotion or insecurity to what they\u2019re currently in charge of. This is further heightened in video games, where interactivity creates an extra layer of attachment to a character. So when an adaptation shows off its first production still of an actor playing a main character, everyone\u2019s got thoughts to share. It\u2019s one thing to be aware that Sophie Turner will play Lara Croft, , and another to actually see her in the classic outfit, shades and all.<\/p>\n Capcom makes iconic characters, and that\u2019s especially true for Street Fighter<\/em>. So when our first look of this movie was a goofy, hip-hop fueled teaser, folks were understandably a bit put off by how some things looked. (Seeing 50 Cent rock Balrog\u2019s hairline is a throwback in the worst way.) While most of the cast came off well in motion, the character posters basically undermined that and reminded you the importance of intentional lighting. The costuming was especially jarring when looking at its cinematic rival Mortal Kombat II,\u00a0<\/em>whose cast all look like their characters without leaning too far into uncanny territory.<\/p>\n But with Street Fighter\u2019s<\/em> new trailer, it\u2019s clear the goofiness isn\u2019t a bug, it\u2019s the entire feature. Instead of striving for realism, director Kitao Sakurai looks to be wrapping the movie around the franchise\u2019s sillier elements, like the games\u2019 vehicle-destroying bonus stages. The particular energy it\u2019s going for gives its fights and locations a splash more personality than anyone was likely expecting, a choice likely informed by there no getting around everyone in these games constantly doing impossible things. Unlike with other CG-heavy movies, it doesn\u2019t seem like it\u2019ll be a dealbreaker for Ryu\u2019s Hadouken or Zangief do the Running Bear Grab to look uncanny in live-action.<\/p>\n For every person who picks up what Street Fighter\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>putting down, there\u2019ll be another camp put off by it, thinking the filmmakers pulled some kind of joke on Capcom. The developer can\u2019t exactly beat those allegations, given its track record with adaptations. For whatever reason, there doesn\u2019t appear to be any visible oversight on the studio\u2019s end whenever Western creatives try bringing its IP to TV or film. Maybe it\u2019s just secure in the strength of its games or trusts in the relationship between adaptations and game sales, but this approach feels incredibly rare for a major developer.<\/p>\n That can you can feel Nintendo or Sony\u2019s presence looming over their adaptations can create an increasingly unpleasant feeling as they become more popular. Video game adaptations have spent years striving for legitmacy, so it means something that Capcom\u2019s employing a \u201cfuck it, we ball\u201d strategy with the likes of\u00a0Resident Evil\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Street Fighter.\u00a0<\/em>If we\u2019re going to keep getting these movies and shows, ones based on the IP should at least try asking the audience to meet it on its own terms. That kind of self-assuredness is something Capcom\u2019s always been good at, and it seems to have served the studio\u2019s games quite well lately\u2014so it\u2019s easy to imagine that working in favor of its flagship fighting franchise on the big screen.<\/p>\n![\"Street](\"https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/street-fighter-movie-2026-trailer-chun-li.jpg\")