Hollywood’s video-game streak has a new data point. “Street Fighter” — the Paramount, Legendary and Capcom adaptation starring Jason Momoa — opened at No. 1 at the North American box office with an estimated $31 million from 3,575 theatres, and $51.1 million worldwide, on a reported $82 million production budget.
The debut is the biggest opening in the franchise’s history and already approaches the entire $33.4 million domestic run of the 1994 “Street Fighter.” It came in at about half the opening of “Resident Evil” earlier this fall and 19 per cent below “Mortal Kombat II,” with a B-minus CinemaScore from audiences, 45 per cent of whom were over 35 — a sign the nostalgia audience showed up.
In second place, A24’s Elizabeth Holmes documentary “You Can See Everything” took $15 million from just 855 screens, the second-biggest documentary opening ever behind “Fahrenheit 9/11.” Overall weekend business reached roughly $103 million, up more than 40 per cent from the same weekend a year ago.
For the studios, the lesson of the autumn so far is that game adaptations remain reliable openers even when reviews and audience scores are mixed — provided the casting, like Momoa’s, gives older fans a reason to buy a ticket.
