Paramount/Legendary’s “Street Fighter” has brought in a fair amount of gamers to theaters this weekend, leading the box office with a $31 million domestic/$51 million global opening.
That’s a middling start for this $82 million co-production between Legendary and “Street Fighter” publishers Capcom, which has arrived at Paramount as part of a new distribution deal with Legendary. But the big question mark hanging over the video game film is whether it will be able to draw interest outside of its core audience or if it will be frontloaded like fellow fighting game adaptation “Mortal Kombat II” earlier this year.
There are signs that the weeks ahead might be the latter, as the film has a B- on CinemaScore — the same as the 1994 “Street Fighter” film starring Jean Claude Van Damme — and Rotten Tomatoes scores of 40% critics and 80% audience. For comparison, “MK II” had a B and 86% audience RT score.
That might not be enough for “Street Fighter” as it prepares to compete next weekend against Warner Bros./DC’s “Clayface,” which is hoping to bring in both comic book fans and general horror fans. Social media buzz for the film from advance screenings has been strong, raising hopes for DC after the big-budget misfire of “Supergirl.”
But at least “Street Fighter” is earning a solid opening. The same can’t be said for 20th Century Studios’ survival thriller “Whalefall,” which features “Resident Evil” breakout star Austin Abrams as a scuba diver who gets swallowed by a whale. Despite generally positive reception, the film is opening to just $17.5 million worldwide with $8 million domestic against a reported net budget of $60 million.
“Whalefall” has received a B on CinemaScore and Rotten Tomatoes scores of 71% critics and 81% audience, so word-of-mouth could help the film cut its losses in the weeks ahead. But this film is likely to join Warner Bros.’ “Digger” and Sony’s “The Social Reckoning” on the list of misfires that have plagued the box office this month, though 20th Century parent company Disney will be able to absorb any losses with the windfall Marvel’s “Avengers: Doomsday” will bring this December.
Instead of “Whalefall,” the No. 2 movie on the charts this weekend is A24’s “You Can See Everything,” which stands as the highest opening for a documentary in at least 13 years with $15 million from just 855 screens.
With more than 2,000 sellout screenings and counting, Lance Oppenheim and Nathan Fielder’s acclaimed, mind-bending look into the life of convicted fraudster Elizabeth Holmes has broken through what has been a terrible marketplace for docs and is set to be a major indie success for A24 with a combined production and marketing budget of less than $10 million. You can read more about the doc’s success in our indie box office breakdown here.
Sitting in between “You Can See Everything” and “Whalefall” in the No. 3 spot is the sole holdover in the top 5: Universal/Blumhouse-Atomic Monster’s “Other Mommy” with $8.3 million in its second weekend. After its poor critical and audience reception, “Other Mommy” has fallen 70% from its $27 million opening. But it will still be a modest theatrical success with a $44.8 million domestic 10-day total against a reported $19 million production budget.
Completing the top 5 is Focus Features’ “Sense and Sensibility,” Georgia Oakley’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic novel which has earned a $7.25 million opening from 2,545 locations. Reception from a primarily female audience has been very positive with an A- on CinemaScore and 90% audience RT score.
Outside the top 5, Sony/TriStar’s “Resident Evil” is on the verge of crossing the $150 million mark domestically after adding $5.5 million in its fifth weekend. Globally, the film now stands at $361 million and counting, setting a new career high for director Zach Cregger.
The success of “Resident Evil” will make up for Sony’s other film in theaters, “The Social Reckoning,” which is already plummeting 73% to a $1.5 million second weekend, leaving it with a $14.2 million global two-weekend total against a $30 million budget co-financed by Alcon.
Finally, Warner Bros.’ “Digger” is well on its way out of theaters, having suffered one of the biggest screen losses of any wide release in the 21st century as it shed 2,535 locations and has grossed $920,000 from 786 locations in its third weekend. The $160 million satire starring Tom Cruise has grossed just $17 million domestically.
