Much to the confusion of everyone who saw the first film, Tekken is coming back to live-action. The Hollywood Reporter brought the news from Cannes today that production company Crystal Sky is moving forward with a prequel to the 2006 adaptation of Tekken, which loosely drew the first two games into a plot about class warfare and ignored the whole "characters turn into angels and demons" thing, thankfully. Tekken: Rise of the Tournament will likely deal with how the Iron Fist Tournament begun, something which even the game's internal history is spotty about.
From THR:
" [Crystal Sky CEO Steven] Paul is hoping the prequel, directed by Prachya Pinkaew (Ong Bak), will get a domestic theatrical release although no deal is in place as yet. The movie will not have stars but will have actors who look like the characters in the video games."
Yikes. Although the original had no known talent, it did feature genre friendly actors like Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Heihaci Mishima, but you may know the actor better from his stint as Shang Tsung in the Mortal Kombat film. On a random note, Ian Anthony Dale, who played Kazuya in the first film, was Scorpion in the reimagined Mortal Kombat web series.
But the addition of Pinkaew is welcome, as his previous films like Ong Bak, The Protector and Chocolate all strive for realism in their fight choreography. The part that's questionable is choosing actors to look like characters in a game about a time period that has never been covered in the fighting franchise. Who shows up to the first Tekken anyway?
Don't think too hard--leave an idea in the comments. And don't worry, it could be years before you even see this film, as no production schedule or release date has been confirmed. Chances are you'll have caught the original Tekken film by then, or maybe one of three planned Baby Genius films.
via: Game Informer