Capcom’s Street Fighter adaptation won the worldwide box office in its opening weekend with $51.1 million, but the number lands below what the studio side was hoping for. IGN reports that the film took an estimated $31 million in the US and $20.1 million internationally, enough for first place despite lukewarm reviews.
Deadline’s global box office report says the international haul came from 65 markets and that a $70 million worldwide opening had been hoped for. The trade also reports, citing people in the know, that the $82 million production will be fine in the end once ancillary revenue is counted. That puts the film in a middle position: it won the weekend comfortably, but it hasn’t yet earned back its budget at the box office.
Who showed up, and who didn’t
Dark Horizons relays Deadline’s finding that men over 35 made up nearly half of the audience. That fits the film’s pitch to longtime fans of the games, with Andrew Koji as Ryu, Noah Centineo as Ken, Callina Liang as Chun-Li, David Dastmalchian as M. Bison and Jason Momoa as Blanka. Director Kitao Sakurai’s film opened in 3,575 US theatres.
Critics have been less kind than ticket buyers. According to IGN, the film sits at 41% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and 79% from audiences, and IGN’s own review scored it 6/10. IGN says fans are praising the animation and fight sequences, and “dumb fun” is a common verdict.
How it compares
IGN sets the opening against Mortal Kombat. The 2021 film made $22.5 million domestically in its post-lockdown debut, while Mortal Kombat 2 opened to $63 million globally earlier this year. By worldwide opening, that gives Mortal Kombat the edge over its Capcom rival, even as both camps float a crossover. Our earlier report covers Sakurai’s comments that a sequel is being written, with the green light depending on how this first film performs. The next few weekends will show whether word of mouth helps or hurts that case.
Capcom’s other big-screen release this year is doing better. Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil is still in theatres, and in the UAE it opened with AED 5.1M. IGN notes that star Austin Abrams also appears in Whalefall, which opened this weekend and fell short against its $60 million budget.
The documentary that stole the conversation
The US weekend’s other story was Nathan Fielder’s You Can See Everything, a documentary about Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and her partner, Billy Evans. IGN says it took $15 million domestically from just 855 theatres, and that its production and marketing budgets were each reportedly under $10 million. It is a limited release for now, and Deadline’s Street Fighter report says it hasn’t begun its foreign release. IGN’s review gave it 10/10, and the outlet says it has become Letterboxd’s highest-rated feature film.
Did Street Fighter make its money back?
Not yet. The $51.1 million worldwide opening compares with a reported $82 million production budget, so the film needs a strong run in the coming weeks.
Is a Street Fighter sequel confirmed?
No. Sakurai has said writing is under way but has made no promises, and the decision rests on how the first film performs.
