Entertainment
‘Street Fighter’ Star Confirms Long-Term Franchise Plans Are Already in Motion
Summary
- Collider’s Steve Weintraub talks with CinemaCon 2026’s Star of Tomorrow, Noah Centineo.
- Centineo is set to lead Street Fighter, John Rambo, and Gundam.
- In this interview, Centineo discusses when filming begins for Gundam, the behind-the-scenes work for Street Fighter, and how he became John Rambo in the franchise’s upcoming prequel.
While at CinemaCon 2026, Collider’s Steve Weintraub had the opportunity to catch up with Noah Centineo, who was celebrated with the Star of Tomorrow award at the Big Screen Achievement Awards this year, alongside fellow honorees James Cameron, Queen Latifah, Adam Scott, and more. This particular accolade highlights stars on the rise with an epic slate of projects on the horizon. Centineo, best known for his roles in To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Black Adam, Warfare, and Netflix’s The Recruit, couldn’t be a more fitting recipient with the lineup of features he’s got coming our way, including this year’s Street Fighter with Paramount Pictures.
From director Kitao Sakurai (Beef, Butterfly), this hotly anticipated arcade adaptation takes audiences back to 1993 and reintroduces all our favorite characters on the biggest screen. The movie is filmed for IMAX, and will feature all of the game’s most iconic moves, Hadoukens, and a story that reunites Ryu (Andrew Koji) and Ken Masters (Centineo), when Chun-Li (Callina Liang) recruits them for the World Warrior Tournament. Street Fighter also stars Jason Momoa as Blanka, David Dastmalchian as M. Bison, Eric André as Don Sauvage, 50 Cent as Balrog, Mel Jarnson as Cammy, and Olivier Richters as Zangief.
Check out the full conversation in the video above, or in the transcript below, where Centineo discusses the intense training regimen he and the cast underwent to prepare for Street Fighters before ever calling action, who out of the cast is the best Street Fighter player, and which scene he can’t wait for fans to see on screen. This Star of Tomorrow also shares details on how he became John Rambo for the prequel film, from Sisu director Jalmari Helander, and the emotional scene that became his “North Star” throughout filming, as well as teases the live-action adaptation of Gundam, alongside Sydney Sweeney.
‘Street Fighter’ Movie Recreates Psycho Crusher, Tornado Kicks, and More Classic Moves
“We did six weeks of training before we ever said action.”
COLLIDER: Let’s talk about the most important thing, which is that the Street Fighter footage looks awesome. One of the things I have really taken away from here at CinemaCon is that you guys have recreated moves from the game, specifically Street Fighter II, for the movie. Talk a little bit about that.
NOAH CENTINEO: Absolutely. Jon Valera, our stunt coordinator, is a monster. He’s revered in the stunt industry, and now I know why, certainly. When designing the fights, they wanted to stay true to the real characters and their different fighting styles and their special moves, and so we did six weeks of training before we ever said action, me, [Andrew] Koji, and Callina [Liang]. Callina, their fighting style was more wushu. Koji had more gōjū-ryū mixed with Shotokan karate, and I was more Shotokan karate mixed with a little bit of Muay Thai kickboxing and boxing.
So, with all of the characters’ actual fighting styles in mind, that was how Jon Valera organized all of the fights in the film. Then, you see it in the trailer, you see it in the teaser that was released as well, they’re just all in there, whether it’s the Psycho Crusher or Koji’s tornado kick. The list goes on and on.
Who in the cast is the best at Street Fighter II?
CENTINEO: I think it’s Andrew Schulz. I’m the worst, that’s for sure. I’m not good.
Did you play Ken in the game and you’re terrible?
CENTINEO: No, yeah. When I grew up, I always played with Blanka or Dhalsim.
Dhalsim? You have to be awesome to win with that character.
CENTINEO: Yeah, yeah, he’s a difficult character to play with.
I like Ken, and I like Zangief a lot.
CENTINEO: Zangief is crazy. I know that Koji always played with Ken or Ryu, and Callina only played with Chun-Li.
That makes sense.
CENTINEO: Well, it makes sense, too, because for her, she was like, I’m struggling to remember exactly what she said, but just like she was the first playable female character in the Street Fighter game, and she was Chinese, and Callina is also Chinese, so she was just like, “That’s me.” So she played with her.
Totally.
This thing is loaded with action, and it just looks cool. Which sequence is that one that you’re like, “I cannot wait for Street Fighter fans to see it?”
CENTINEO: I don’t think I can tell you a bunch, but there’s a sequence where all the lighting is like purple, and it’s in the trailer. It’s not red and blue, it’s purple, and Zangief is involved, and that sequence is raw. I won’t tell you why. I just love that whole sequence.
There’s no way they’re thinking about it as a one-and-done movie, so talk a little bit about how much of the story did they tell you in terms of, like, “If this is successful, we’re thinking about this kind of an arc for Ken, or this kind of an arc for this universe,” and how much is sort of like, “Let’s just make one movie and let’s see what happens?”
CENTINEO: You’re definitely spot-on. They definitely want to do as many as they can, Legendary, Paramount, and I do too, in success. I would love it. It was so fun. I don’t know how much I can tell you, but I’ll say this: at the end of the movie, there is a feeling of, like, you finally know who these characters are, and they settle, and you go, “Oh, this is the group? I fuck with this, and I want to see it again and again and again.”
So, I don’t want to tell you where they want it to go, because you have to know how this one ends first, but I will say that when this one ends, you really understand who the characters are, and it leaves you in a place, at least for me when I finished it, where I went, “Oh, that’s a group of people that I want to see again and again and again.” So hopefully fans feel the same way.
‘John Rambo’ Prequel Is Inspired by ‘First Blood’s Most Emotional Scene
Centineo discusses how he went from rom-coms to an iconic action franchise.
John Rambo: Where are you in the filming? What do you want to tell fans about the movie?
CENTINEO: We wrapped on Wednesday.
Oh, wow.
CENTINEO: So it’s done. We wanted to do justice to [Sylvester] Stallone’s and Rambo’s monologue in First Blood at the end of the movie, with him and Trautman at the police station, when he breaks down, and he explains he can’t keep a job, and the trauma of what happened before. At least for me, that was my North Star for this prequel, because our John Rambo is the prequel to that story. We want people to have a visceral understanding of what he went through that led him to become this revered character that we’ve all come to know.
So that’s what you can expect, and that’s what I think we’ve done. Now, obviously, we’ve wrapped it five days ago, so who knows? I don’t know what the end result is going to be, but it feels really, really good. Jalmari [Helander]’s a monster, our director.
Is it PG-13, is it R? Is there violence? What’s the tone?
CENTINEO: It’s not G. I’ll tell you that.
What was it about the script, though? It’s an iconic character. Was there any hesitation about taking the role? And what was it about the script that said, “I need to do this?”
CENTINEO: First, before I even read the script, I just heard about it, and I thought, “I need to do that.” I don’t really know how to explain it. I just went, “I need to be that guy. I need to try this.” I just had a feeling. Then Jalmari wouldn’t meet with me, for good reason. I think I was To All the Boys. I think my public-facing persona on my Instagram, it’s very easy to look at that and go, “Oh, this is the type of person that is,” and that’s super fair. He’ll tell you this, too. We love telling this story, Jalmari and I.
But he took a meeting eventually. We wore him down. In that meeting, I had read the script, and we got to talking, and I don’t know, I guess I lied, cheated, and stole my way into it, and burrowed my way into his head a little bit, and he started considering it. He was now open to consideration, and we kept talking. We just kept talking and talking. We would Zoom. I was filming Union County at the time. We just kept talking, and one day he called me, and he said, “You’re Rambo.” It was so surreal. I don’t know. It was a feeling.
“What ‘First Blood’ did to me when I was 10 years old basically changed my life.”
Noah Centineo Says ‘Gundam’ Will Be “Fan-First” Just Like ‘Street Fighter’
Production is now underway.
I’m almost out of time with you, but I have to ask you about Gundam because I’ve been waiting for this. I’ve been waiting for Robotech. I’ve been waiting for Voltron. I’ve been waiting for these properties. What do you want to tell people about Gundam? Where and when are you filming?
CENTINEO: Dude, I leave for Australia on Saturday. Saturday night.
Oh, wow. So it’s project to project?
CENTINEO: Correct. Sydney Sweeney is there now. I think the announcement for the start of production is coming out soon, but we’re starting production. You can put it out. I don’t think they’ll be too upset. So, I go on Saturday. It’s going to be huge. Jim Mickle, our director, he’s got all heart. He’s so sensitive, all heart, and he builds these wonderful massive worlds. I’ve seen some of the previs, and I’ve seen what he’s trying to do and looking to do, and it’s very exciting.
Sydney’s so sweet, man. She’s giving everything she’s got to this. I’m really excited to get out there and do this with her. I think it’s going to be lovely. We have such a phenomenal ensemble around this, as well. Yeah, man, I think people are going to like it.
The thing about Gundam is that it means so much to so many people. Maybe not in America, but in Asia. In Japan, it’s massive.
CENTINEO: Yes.
Just massive. Huge. So, how familiar were you with it, and how do you think the movie will honor the fans of the material based on the script and what you know?
CENTINEO: In the same way that we were fan-first on Street Fighter, we’re fan-first on Gundam. Legendary’s doing both of those, so for them it’s very important. That’s definitely the priority for them, so fans can expect the same level of meticulous attention to detail when it comes to respecting the property and the IP that we’ve all come to know and love.
I knew the show. I would watch it back when I was a kid, but other than seeing it on Cartoon Network or Tsunami or something like that, that was pretty much the extent of my knowledge of it. But now, after getting on board and watching more of it, it’s great, dude. It’s going to be great.
Street Fighter opens in theaters on October 16.
- Release Date
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October 16, 2026
- Director
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Kitao Sakurai
- Writers
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Dalan Musson
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