EXCLUSIVE: Paramount/Legendary’s PG-13 take of Capcom videogame Street Fighter is off to a solid start tonight with around $4M after showtimes that began at 2PM (further boosted by a 7PM fan showtime). The expectation is for the fisticuffs feature to open north of $30M; the pic costing 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 videogame. 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 which bowed in mid-May had previews that began at 3PM 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 Figther‘s previews are also ahead of Paramount’s 2020 pre-Covid Sonic the Hedgehog which was $3M and posted 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.
Impressive for the anomaly that it is out of the gate, the 3-hour documentary You Can See Everything from A24 is filing around $2M in previews which began at 3PM. By comparison, the last documentary to post the decade’s best start at the domestic box office, Amazon MGM Studio’s 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 which began at 4PM which turned into an $18.8M opening. Conservative estimates heading into this weekend had You Can See Everything in the high single digit range, however, a confidence has swelled that this 100% fresh RT critically acclaimed 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 & Sensibility and 20th Century Studio’s Whalefall also held previews today, both beginning at 2PM. Sources estimate they’re around $1M apiece. We will have official studio reported figures tomorrow 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.