Nothing can stand in the way of the video game movie fever — not even niche titles, it seems. Eternal Champions, the fighting game series from Sega, is the next to get a live-action film adaptation at Skydance, with Jurassic World scribe Derek Connolly tapped to write the script.
Toru Nakahara, who oversaw the adaptation of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, will serve as producer on the project, which currently has no release date. Not much is known about the plot, but it should pull from the source material, following a god-like Eternal Champion who tries to restore balance to the world with a martial arts tournament featuring figures from across history.
It was praised for its colourful cast that includes Dawson, a sheriff from the American Wild West, a pirate named Riptide, Blade, a Syrian hunter from 2030 AD, Jetta, a Russian noble woman masquerading as an acrobat, and even a chicken from Vietnam called Crispy.
After its original release in 1993, a planned sequel for the Sega CD was ultimately axed as Sega redirected their focus into promoting Virtua Fighter in the U.S. The brawler served as the company’s answer to the popularity of Capcom’s Street Fighter II and NetherRealm Games’ Mortal Kombat, but has since fallen into obscurity.
Eternal Champions is the latest video game to receive the big screen treatment, joining an upcoming slate lined with The Legend of Zelda, Death Stranding, Watch Dogs, Ghost of Tsushima, and more. Most recently, Borderlands failed to recreate the beloved world of Pandora for the movie-going crowd, bombing at the global box office. Hopefully, none of the work-in-progress titles will meet the same fate.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Natalie
