Paramount’s action film “Street Fighter” karate-chopped the competition this weekend with a $31 million debut at the North American box office, industry estimates showed Sunday.
Andrew Koji, Noah Centineo and Callina Liang star in the film — the third feature-length adaptation of the video game and the first since production company Legendary acquired the movie rights in 2023. Jason Momoa and Curtis Jackson — better known as rapper “50 Cent” — also make appearances. Analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research called the $31 million debut a “good opening” but noted “critics’ reviews are weak and the audience score is soft.”
“The film should recover its costs after playing in ancillary markets, in addition to adding value back to the franchise in all its forms — in film, TV and games,” he added.”Street Fighter,” based on the beloved Capcom video game, follows super-powered martial artists competing in a global tournament who uncover and battle a sinister conspiracy. Street Fighter earned a B- CinemaScore from audiences, same as the 1994 movie of the same name that kicked off the franchise with Jean-Claude Van Damme in the lead. The new film has struggled to win over critics, holding a 41 percent approval from Rotten Tomatoes reviewers (which is an improvement on the 1994 film’s 20 critics score), along with an audience score of 79. In his review for The Hollywood Reporter, critic Frank Scheck called Street Fighter a “jumbled tonal mess” and “only sporadically entertaining.”