That Sifu film that’s been gestating for a while finally has another update, and it appears that you can now expect it to release on Netflix.
Way back in 2022, it was announced that Slopclap’s martial arts brawler Sifu would be getting a live-action film adaptation with John Wick writer Derek Kolstad in the director’s chair. Not much has been shared since then, but a new report from Deadline has offered up some pretty big updates, namely that Netflix has joined the project, tapping T.S. Nowlin to pen the screenplay. Nowlin doesn’t have a huge number of credits under his belt, but he did write those Maze Runner films from like a decade ago, as well as the 2022 Netflix film The Adam Project, which did have some big names like Ryan Reynolds, Mark Ruffalo, and Jennifer Garner attached.
On top of that, insiders apparently told Deadline that John Wick director Chad Stahelski and his 87Eleven Entertainment banner have joined Story Kitchen as producers on the projects – Stahelski is expected to produce alongside Jason Spritz and Alex Young at 87Eleven Entertainment, with Dmitri M. Johnson and Mike Goldberg doing the same from Story Kitchen. Sloclap’s Jordan Layani and Pierre Tarno are also attached as executive producers.
No exact story details were shared about the project, but presumably it follows a similar plot to the original game. For those that haven’t played out, it follows the child of a martial arts school’s sifu, i.e. master, who is seeking revenge for his father’s death. The core loop sees him going off to fight some baddies, but thanks to a magical talisman, he comes back to life, albeit a bit older than he was the last time. We got a glimpse of that outside of the original game in last year’s Prime Video series Secret Level, so maybe someone at Netflix liked it enough to jump on the film version.
There’s no release date for the film just yet, so you’ll just have to wait until it makes some more progress.
