Eternal Champions, Sega’s obscure fighting game series from 1993, is being revived as a live-action film
The fever for video game adaptations continues unabated, and the obscure Sega fighting game series “Eternal Champions” is the latest to get its own live-action film.
Eternal Champions originally came out in 1993 and was Sega’s answer to the popularity of Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat. It was heavily hyped for its graphics and enjoyed good sales. There was even a sequel on the Sega CD, but it was ultimately cancelled because Sega reportedly wanted to focus on promoting Virtual Fighter in the US.
Since then, Eternal Champions has been forgotten as the publisher (and the world) has largely moved on. Now, however, it’s getting its own movie.
According to THR, Jurassic World writer Derek Connolly is set to write a live-action version of Eternal Champions for Skydance. Toru Nakahara, who oversaw the Sonic films, will serve as one of the film’s producers. Not much is known about the plot yet, but it will presumably follow that of the game, in which a god-like Eternal Champion tries to restore balance to the world with a martial arts tournament featuring characters from throughout history.
The cast of heroes includes Dawson, a sheriff from the American Wild West, a pirate named Riptide, and a chicken from Vietnam named Crispy. The film will likely try to capture some of the appeal of the Mortal Kombat films, which come from a similar period in gaming history and remain popular with nostalgic fans.
In addition to Eternal Champions, there are other games getting their own movies, including The Legend of Zelda, Death Stranding, and Until Dawn. Releases like Sega’s own Sonic movies have been a financial boon for Hollywood, but the trend isn’t without risks. Borderlands, which came out last week, was panned by critics and a major flop at the box office.
We’ll see how Eternal Champions fares when it finally hits theaters. There’s no release date yet.
Kat Bailey is IGN’s Director of News and co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? DM her at @the_katbot.
