IQN (NewsDesk): Paramount and Legendary’s video game adaptation “Street Fighter” opened in more than 3,500 North American theaters on Friday, taking in about 4 million dollars from Thursday previews as a sharp split emerged between critics and audiences.
The film, based on Capcom’s long running fighting game series, stars Noah Centineo, Andrew Koji and Callina Liang and follows a combat tournament. Critics have been harsh, with the movie holding a Rotten Tomatoes score of around 43 percent, one of the lowest for a video game adaptation in the past decade. Early audience reviews are far warmer at about 83 percent, a gap of nearly 40 points. One critic called it messy and largely forgettable, while another described it as amusing genre pulp.
Opening weekend forecasts have ranged widely. Most trackers expect between 25 million and 35 million dollars in North America, with one late projection as high as 43 million, and a worldwide debut of around 70 million dollars. The film carries a reported budget of about 82 million dollars, so its second weekend will matter. The preview total came in below that of “Mortal Kombat II.”
It faces fellow newcomers “Whalefall,” “Sense and Sensibility” and the Elizabeth Holmes documentary “You Can See Everything,” which took 1.7 million dollars in previews. The 1994 “Street Fighter” starring Jean Claude Van Damme grossed about 99 million dollars worldwide, while the 2009 spin off “The Legend of Chun Li” flopped. A sequel is reportedly already being written, pending this weekend’s results.
