Street Fighter film trailer gives first look at Momoa's Blanka

Paramount Pictures and Legendary have released a new trailer for the live-action Street Fighter film, giving the first substantial look at Jason Momoa as Blanka. Polygon, which reported on the footage, describes the version of the character on show as considerably more violent than recent games have portrayed him.

The trailer sets up a cage fight arranged by M. Bison, played by David Dastmalchian, in which Ryu, played by Andrew Koji, is forced to face Blanka. In the sequence Blanka drags a prisoner into his chamber and electrocutes them, a moment the film renders with the stylised X-ray effect used in Street Fighter 2, before performing the character's rolling Blanka Ball attack. Ryu tries to talk his way out of the fight; Momoa's reply, "Then you die. OK?", is delivered in a register Polygon compares to the character's voice in Street Fighter 6.

Leaning into the source material

Polygon reads the trailer as evidence that director Kitao Sakurai is playing the material broadly rather than straight, and argues that suits a cast that includes a wrestler who fights with bear hugs and a jungle-raised character with electrical powers. The outlet also notes a cameo roughly 14 seconds into the trailer by the fighting game player and YouTuber Maximilian Dood, which it takes as a sign the production has some familiarity with the community around the games.

Blanka has been portrayed inconsistently across the series he comes from. In Street Fighter 2, he was introduced as Jimmy, a boy whose plane crashed in the Amazon and who was mutated by electric eels. Later entries softened him: in Street Fighter 5 and 6 he sells plush toys of himself and works to bring tourism to his village.

The Street Fighter film is scheduled to reach theatres on October 16. Neither Paramount nor Legendary has announced further footage.