# Director of 1994 ‘Street Fighter’ Defends His Movie Amid Debate Over Its Comedy: “It’s Intentionally Funny”

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/director-of-1994-street-fighter-defends-his-movie-amid-debate-over-its-comedy-its-intentionally-funny/
- Published: 2026-10-30T23:36:17+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-31T00:13:55+00:00
- Original publisher: The Hollywood Reporter
- Original article: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/street-fighter-director-1994-steven-de-souza-jokes-1236741401/
- Topics: Americas, Entertainment, Film, Gaming, World

## Key points

- De Souza says his 1994 Street Fighter film was intentionally funny.
- The film earned nearly $100 million and later gained a cult following.
- He still has the script for a cancelled sequel.

## Summary

Steven E. de Souza says his 1994 film *Street Fighter* was deliberately comic, despite its original reputation for being “accidentally funny”. He welcomes the renewed interest in the franchise and the new film’s references to his version, while noting the contrast between today’s praise for the latest film’s humour and its characterisation of the 1994 film as serious.

The 1994 film, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Raul Julia and Ming-Na Wen, earned nearly $100 million worldwide and has since developed a cult following. De Souza says production constraints and a school shooting in 1994 led the team to tone down the martial arts fights, while limited resources restricted the video game’s fantastical elements. He still has a script for a planned sequel that was cancelled, and says it could potentially be used in future.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.