Chun-Li’s kicks have been a problem for Street Fighter opponents since 1991. Now Callina Liang is bringing that power to the big screen, and new photos from the upcoming live-action film have fans studying every detail.
The images show Liang in Chun-Li’s familiar blue costume, wearing the character’s signature hair buns and spiked wrist cuffs. In one shot, she poses beside a production RV marked “3.CHUN-LI.” Her stance and muscular legs have drawn plenty of attention online, with fans joking that her thighs deserve their own billing. For a character whose fighting style is built around speed and punishing kicks, those details matter.
Liang put considerable work into getting there. She has said she ate 12 eggs a day while training for the role and spent two hours daily practicing Taekwondo, Muay Thai and Wushu. By the end of filming, she said, each thigh had grown 6.5 centimeters. She also recorded Chun-Li’s movements across the games and studied the footage in slow motion, working to understand how the character fights as well as how she looks.
Chun-Li made her debut in Street Fighter II: The World Warrior as one of gaming’s first playable female fighting stars. An Interpol agent pursuing the criminal organization Shadaloo and its leader, M. Bison, she became a fixture of the franchise through moves like the Lightning Kick and Spinning Bird Kick. More recent games have followed her into a new chapter as a Kung Fu teacher and guardian to Li-Fen.
The film brings that history into a story set in 1993. Chun-Li recruits estranged fighters Ryu and Ken Masters for the World Warrior Tournament, where the competition draws them into a larger conspiracy. Andrew Koji plays Ryu, Noah Centineo plays Ken, and David Dastmalchian takes on M. Bison. The cast also includes Jason Momoa as Blanka, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson as Balrog, Cody Rhodes as Guile and Joe “Roman Reigns” Anoa’i as Akuma.
Directed by Kitao Sakurai, Street Fighter is scheduled to hit theaters and IMAX on October 16, 2026.