Street Fighter Opens in Theaters Today to Mixed Reviews and a $25–35 Million Projection

The new Street Fighter is in theaters today, and the early scores say it is better than the last two movies and still not good. Paramount releases the Legendary and Capcom production in wide U.S. release and in IMAX on October 16, after a premiere at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on October 12. Kitao Sakurai directs. Noah Centineo plays Ken, Andrew Koji plays Ryu, and Callina Liang plays Chun-Li. The supporting list is a roster: David Dastmalchian as Bison, Joe “Roman Reigns” Anoai, Cody Rhodes, Jason Momoa, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Eric André, Andrew Schulz, Orville Peck, and others. Runtime is about two hours. Rating is PG-13. Budget is $82 million, split between Legendary and Capcom. Paramount is the distributor under its newer deal with Legendary, after the project left Sony when the prior pact expired. On Rotten Tomatoes the film sat near 47 percent from about 62 reviews, averaging 5 out of 10. Metacritic had 45 from 22 critics, mixed or average. Those numbers are above the 1994 Jean-Claude Van Damme film and far above the 2009 Chun-Li movie. They are below the recent Mortal Kombat entries. Tracking put the domestic opening at $25 million to $35 million from roughly 3,500 theaters, with about $35 million more from 65 overseas markets. That would be enough for first place this weekend. It would not, by itself, cover an $82 million production. What the Reviews Are Saying The split is consistent. The cast is having fun. The anime flashbacks, done by Titmouse, are the part several critics wished were the whole movie. The live-action stretches are where the film loses them. Variety’s review said it starts strong and nosedives into nonsense, a straightforward story about Ken and Ryu’s strained brotherhood spread thin across unconnected action and comedy. The Hollywood Reporter called it fan service with too few new moves, sporadically entertaining for a reviewer who is not a player. The New York Times noted that at its best it operates like a deranged live-action cartoon, which is what some viewers wanted, and that judging its filmmaking flaws can feel like missing the point. The Associated Press said it overflows with convoluted plotting and confusing jokes, and that its greatest virtue is that it is not boring. That is a video-game adaptation score, not a surprise. The games have dozens of characters. The movie tries to include many of them. Non-fans get lost. Fans get the cameos and still get a middle that reviewers called sloppy. The 2D sequences are the consensus high point. They are also a reminder that the property’s cleanest recent form has been animation. How It Got Here Danny and Michael Philippou were attached as directors and left in June 2024. Sakurai joined the following February. Casting ran through May and June 2025. Principal photography started in August 2025 and wrapped in November. The original Sony date was March 20, 2026. It came off the calendar when Legendary’s Sony deal ended. Paramount picked up distribution in 2025. Sakurai has said a sequel is being written, and that whether it proceeds depends on how this one is received. That is a polite way of saying the opening and the legs decide if Ken and Ryu get another round. The 1994 film, for all its reputation, grossed about $100 million worldwide, unadjusted. This one costs $82 million before marketing and needs to do more than match that opening projection to look like a win for Capcom and Legendary. Paramount’s exposure is distribution. The producers’ exposure is the budget. What Audiences Will Decide Critic scores in the mid-40s do not kill a video-game movie if the core fans show up and the CinemaScore holds. They do kill the “event” framing and they make a sequel a harder internal sell. The audience score on Rotten Tomatoes was still filling in on opening morning. That number, and Sunday’s actual gross against the $25–35 million band, are the figures that matter more than the 62-review Tomatometer. IMAX and the premium formats are where a fighting-game movie can over-index. If the premium share is high and the midweek drop is normal, the $82 million is recoverable with overseas. If the premium share is ordinary and word of mouth matches the critics, the film is a one-weekend item and the sequel script stays in a drawer. What to Watch Sunday’s domestic number against the $25–35 million estimate. The verified audience score once it settles. Overseas holds in the 65 markets. Whether Sakurai’s sequel comment survives the weekend. Any awards-season noise, which the scores make unlikely. Street Fighter is in theaters today. Centineo and Koji are Ken and Ryu, the flashbacks are the part reviewers liked, and the live-action is the part they did not. It is projected to open in the mid-twenties to mid-thirties and to finish the weekend in first place. Whether that is enough for a second movie is a question for next week.