Zangief may have only shown up for a short time in the new Street Fighter movie, but star Olivier Richters has responded to fan complaints, promising that his bulky warrior will show up again, as he and the rest of the cast have signed on for multiple movies.
On October 26, video game content creator Top Hat Gaming Man posted a video on YouTube complaining about Street Fighter's portrayal of Zangief, aka Red Cyclone, and his lack of screen time. However, Ritchers himself, otherwise known as The Dutch Giant, commented under the video, saying this isn't the last fans have seen of him.
"When they asked me to play Zangief, it was all very clear. There was one goal: show a glimpse of Zangief and his power, so we all want more. All actors, including me, signed for 3 movies," said Reacher season 3 star Ritchers. "If a sequel is made, Zangief will shine was the promise. Apart from that, you can't expect from a 2-hour movie with so many characters for everyone to shine in the first part. But anyways, thanks for wanting to see more of Zangief."
Now, Ritchers isn't all out confirming a sequel there, as Paramount has yet to confirm Street Fighter 2. But it is interesting that the cast signed onto three movies, meaning that the original plan included a sequel and a threequel. This is not a huge surprise, as the movie does end on a cliffhanger with Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Guile, and Dhalsim setting off after Bison. You can read more about that in our Street Fighter ending explained.
Before the movie was even realised, director Kitao Sakurai teased that Street Fighter 2 was already being written. "It's something that we're thinking about and developing," he said to MovieWeb. "We definitely have a lot of ideas, and we're writing currently." However, Sakurai said a sequel depends on how the first movie performs. Street Fighter has earned $79.6 million so far against an $82 million production budget, not including marketing costs.
It sounds as though Street Fighter game studio Capcom wants the movie franchise to continue too. Chun-Li star Callina Liang recently revealed that the original script contained a scene where she cuts off her finger to prove her loyalty to Bison. However, that was replaced by a hand branding as Capcom was worried about deforming the character, which would make future appearances costly in the VFX department. Now, if there weren't more movies on the way, surely this wouldn't have been an issue.
Street Fighter is out in theaters now. For more, check out our Street Fighter review and list of Street Fighter movie Easter eggs, and keep up with upcoming video game movies on the way.
