EXCLUSIVE: Paramount/Legendary’s PG-13 take of the Capcom video game Street Fighter is off to a solid start Thursday night with around $4 million after showtimes that began at 2 p.m. (further boosted by a 7 p.m. fan showtime). The expectation is for the fisticuffs feature to open north of $30M; the pic cost a net $82M co-financed by Legendary and Capcom.
Per sources, Street Figther‘s preview estimate is under the $5.2M Thursday made by New Line’s R-rated Mortal Kombat 2, based on the Midway video game and which bowed in mid-May. One of the main differences between the two martial arts video games is that Street Fighter debuted in 1987, while Mortal Kombat followed in pizza parlors and arcades in 1992.
Mortal Kombat 2 earlier this year had previews that began at 3 p.m. with a first Friday of $16.8M and 3-day of $38.5M. There’s a mid-fall break going on now, which will hopefully trigger traffic to Street Fighter; Rentrak reports 21% K-12 schools off and 7% colleges. Street Fighter‘s previews are also ahead of Paramount’s 2020 pre-Covid Sonic the Hedgehog at $3M, leading to a first Friday of $20.9M and 3-day of $58M. However, that pic played over the Presidents Day holiday frame and was rated PG. Critics bruised Street Fighter with 47% on Rotten Tomatoes.
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Impressive for the anomaly that it is out of the gate, the three-hour documentary You Can See Everything from A24 is filing around $2M in previews that began at 3 p.m. By comparison, the last documentary to post the decade’s best start at the domestic box office, Amazon MGM Studios’ Melania, bowed to $7.1M sans previews.
Lance Oppenheim co-directed You Can See Everything with the doc’s host Nathan Fielder, who follows fallen Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes before her stint in federal prison. Oppenheim’s previous movie, also his first narrative feature, this fall’s Primetime, posted previews of $2.7M; those began at 4 p.m. and turned into an $18.8M opening. Conservative estimates heading into this weekend had You Can See Everything in the high single-digit range, but confidence is growing that this critically acclaimed (100% fresh RT and 98% RT audience score) movie can open to north of $10M, which would outstrip Melania‘s previous opening domestic record for a documentary. You Can See Everything was shot over four years and cost less than $10M, with a marketing budget that was also under $10M.
Focus Features’ Sense & Sensibilityand 20th Century Studios’ Whalefall also held previews today, both beginning at 2 p.m.; sources estimate they’re around $1M apiece. We will have official studio reported figures Friday AM.
Sense & Sensibility is expected to open around $8M, while Whalefall, based on the Daniel Kraus thriller novel, is eyeing a Friday-Sunday that’s north of $11M. Sense & Sensibility is 76% fresh with critics, while Whalefall stands at 70% fresh.
