Jean-Claude Van Damme Set to Star in Japan-Set Yakuza Action Film Katana
Jean-Claude Van Damme is set to star in Katana, a martial arts film set in Japan and built around the yakuza, the country's organised crime groups. The news was reported by Deadline on 4 November 2026.
The story follows a former world champion fighter and father. After his daughter is taken by the yakuza in Japan, he returns to combat to get her back.
The screenplay is by Jeremy Zag, who is also set to direct. Zag created the Miraculous franchise, a set of connected stories with the same world and characters across several productions. He and Van Damme first teamed up on paper in 2022, when they announced a project called What's My Name?. That project did not reach the screen, and Katana is the next time their names have been linked on a film.
Melsik Baghdasaryan and Cyril Benzaquen will appear alongside Van Damme. Division Z is producing the film in partnership with Wowow Bridge, a Japan-based company. Filming is scheduled for April, May and June 2027, across three locations: Japan, France and Los Angeles.
Sales are already moving. The Veterans, a sales company, is launching Katana for buyers ahead of the American Film Market (AFM), the industry trade event in Santa Monica, California, where distributors look at films before they are finished. The Veterans handles international rights, meaning the right to sell the film in territories outside the United States and Canada. For AFM buyers, it will provide a sizzle reel, a short promotional video, and the screenplay. CAA Media Finance is representing the U.S. rights.
Deals like this are common at markets. A sales company shows buyers a pitch before cameras roll, so that foreign distributors can decide whether to commit money to a film that is still more than six months from shooting. That early step often shapes which territories a film reaches once it is complete.
Nothing has been announced about a release date or a distribution partner for the film in any particular country. The next public milestones are the AFM sales push and the spring 2027 shoot.
