Street Fighter Heads Into Opening Weekend on Volatile Tracking
Summary
Forecasts for Paramount's Street Fighter have swung between $22 million and $35 million this week as reviews were held until the day before release.
"Legendary and Paramount's Street Fighter, directed by Kitao Sakurai (Bad Trip), opens in theaters on Friday, October 16, in roughly 3,500 theaters after a week of shifting forecasts. Boxoffice Pro's late-September long-range forecast had it at $30 million to $40 million. On October 12, Comic Basics reported that the Global Box Office tracking account had lowered its estimate to $22 million to $29 million, citing weak sales. Box Office Theory's October 14 forecast put the range at $22 million to $32 million, while Variety projected an opening of about $30 million. Filmofilia and Cinefilos, citing updated projections, reported a production budget of about $82 million, which the studio has not confirmed.
General press screenings were held on the afternoon of Wednesday, October 14, with the review embargo lifting Thursday, October 15, according to Comic Basics and Kalshi News. Traders on the Kalshi prediction market were forecasting a 43% Rotten Tomatoes score as of October 13. Comic Basics also cited data from The Quorum showing awareness and interest at 39%, down 7 and 5 points over two weeks. For comparison, Mortal Kombat II opened to $38.5 million in May and finished at $129.5 million worldwide, and Masters of the Universe opened to $29.3 million. Variety projected about $35 million from 65 overseas markets, according to Filmofilia.
Early social reactions after the October 12 premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre were largely positive, JoBlo reported, with praise for the action, cast and animated flashback sequences, though some flagged pacing and a muddled third act. Early full reviews have been mixed, with Grant Watson of Fiction Machine calling the screenplay joke-free. The ensemble includes Andrew Koji as Ryu, Noah Centineo as Ken, Callina Liang as Chun-Li, David Dastmalchian as M. Bison, Cody Rhodes as Guile and Jason Momoa as Blanka. Competition includes A24's You Can See Everything, Disney's Whalefall and Focus Features' Sense and Sensibility."