Round one goes to the fans. Paramount and Legendary’s Street Fighter punched up $12.5 million on Friday, including $4 million from Thursday previews, at 3,575 North American theaters, keeping the video game adaptation on track for a $30 million opening weekend and an easy No. 1 finish, according to Deadline. That number lands at the lower end of the $25 million to $35 million range trackers had penciled in, so Saturday’s family crowds will decide whether this thing has real legs or just a loud first round.
The more surprising story of the weekend is playing out a few screens down. A24’s You Can See Everything, the secret Elizabeth Holmes documentary from director Lance Oppenheim and Nathan Fielder, is heading for a $12 million opening from only 855 locations, which would rank among the biggest documentary debuts in more than a decade.
Friday (including previews): $12.5 million at 3,575 theaters
Projected domestic opening: around $30 million
Projected global opening: roughly $70 million, per TheWrap
Production budget: a reported $82 million, co-financed by Legendary and game publisher Capcom
Directed by Kitao Sakurai, the reboot stars Noah Centineo, Andrew Koji, Callina Liang, Jason Momoa and 50 Cent as fighters pulled into a high-stakes world tournament. It is the first release under Paramount’s new global distribution deal with Legendary, so both studios are watching these grosses closely.
Hit or flop? The honest verdict so far
Critics and crowds are seeing two different movies. The film sits at 46% with critics but 82% with audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, a split that usually means fans of the games are getting exactly what they came for while reviewers shrug. Our own release-day roundup of Street Fighter reviews, runtime and post-credits details tracks with that.
The real test starts now. As TheWrap notes, the movie faces the same challenge Mortal Kombat II ran into earlier this year: fighting game adaptations tend to load their biggest crowds into opening weekend, then drop hard once the core fanbase has been through the turnstiles. A $30 million start against an $82 million budget is a solid opening argument, not a verdict. Word of mouth over the next two weekends, plus that projected $70 million global start, will decide whether sequels get greenlit.
One scheduling quirk works in the movie’s favor. Deadline points out the only MLB playoff game this weekend is Tampa Bay vs. the Cleveland Guardians, so there is no big Saturday sports drain on ticket sales.
You Can See Everything is the weekend’s real overachiever
Keep an eye on the documentary race, because it is quietly historic. You Can See Everything made $1.7 million in Thursday previews from just 855 theaters, topping the $900,000 preview take of 20th Century’s Whalefall, which played in 3,065 locations, per TheWrap. Deadline’s Friday update has it pacing for a $12 million opening, which would clear the $7.1 million debut of Amazon MGM’s Melania and rank as one of the biggest documentary openings since the One Direction concert film This Is Us opened to $15.8 million back in 2013.
The film was shot in secret and announced only two months ago with a surprise premiere at Telluride. It currently holds a rare 100% critics score and 98% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. We broke down the film’s wildest moments in our You Can See Everything explainer.
How we got here: the week in timeline
Two months ago:You Can See Everything premieres unannounced at Telluride, instantly becoming the season’s documentary obsession.
Thursday, Oct. 16:Street Fighter posts $4 million in previews; You Can See Everything stuns with $1.7 million from a fraction of the screens.
Friday, Oct. 17:Street Fighter reaches $12.5 million on opening day, tracking to $30 million; the doc’s projection climbs to $12 million.
Saturday and Sunday: family matinees and word of mouth set the final weekend numbers.
What this means for moviegoers
If you want the big crowd experience:Street Fighter is the weekend’s loudest screen, and audiences are clearly having fun with it even if critics are not. Expect busy Saturday evening shows.
If you want the conversation piece:You Can See Everything is playing far fewer theaters, so check showtimes early. At nearly three hours, plan your evening around it.
If you are deciding by reviews: the doc is the critical darling (100% vs. 46%), while Street Fighter is the audience play (82% with verified moviegoers).
What happens next: watch Monday’s actuals. A Street Fighter finish above $32 million keeps sequel talk alive; anything under $27 million makes the Mortal Kombat II comparisons uncomfortable. For the doc, crossing $12 million would put it in all-time territory for its genre.
The bottom line: the Street Fighter box office debut is doing what tracking said it would, and the weekend’s suspense now sits with a three-hour documentary that nobody saw coming. Final numbers land Sunday.
Kasim Pathan covers entertainment for News Trends. Read our Editorial Standards for how we verify stories.
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