LOS ANGELES — Paramount and Legendary’s Street Fighter opened at No. 1 at the North American box office over the October 16–18 weekend, earning an estimated $31 million from 3,575 theaters — the biggest domestic debut in the franchise’s three-decade, three-film history. With $20.1 million from 66 international markets, the reboot’s global bow reached $51.1 million: a decisive win at home that fell well short of the roughly $70 million worldwide start industry watchers had forecast.
The Weekend by the Numbers
The film collected roughly $13 million on Friday, then held through the weekend to close the three days at $31 million — about $8,671 per theater across 3,575 locations.
| Rank | Film | Studio | Est. domestic | Theaters | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Street Fighter | Paramount / Legendary | $31.0M | 3,575 | Franchise-best opening |
| 2 | You Can See Everything | A24 | $15.0M | 855 | Biggest non-music documentary opening since 2004 |
| 3 | Other Mommy | Universal | $8.35M | — | About 70% second-weekend drop |
| 4 | Whalefall | 20th Century Studios | $8.0M | 3,065 | Against a reported $60M budget |
| 5 | Sense and Sensibility | — | $7.25M | 2,545 | — |
Overall, the domestic box office generated about $103.9 million for the weekend — up roughly 48% from the comparable frame a year ago.
The weekend’s other real story belonged to the runner-up. A24’s You Can See Everything — the nearly three-hour Elizabeth Holmes documentary co-directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim — earned $15 million from just 855 theaters. Its per-theater average of roughly $17,500 was about double Street Fighter‘s, with more than 2,000 sold-out screenings: the biggest opening for a non-music documentary in over two decades.
A Win That Fell Short of Expectations
By domestic tracking standards, the opening was fine. Boxoffice Pro forecast a $30–40 million launch in September and narrowed that to $25–35 million just before release — the $31 million estimate landed squarely inside the revised range. The disappointment was global: pre-release forecasts had pointed to roughly $70 million worldwide, with the mid-$30 millions coming from overseas. The $20.1 million international result came in about $15 million below that mark.
The film carries a reported net production cost of about $82 million, co-financed by Legendary and Capcom, with marketing spend on top of that. The film’s longer run, especially overseas, will decide whether this becomes a franchise launch or an expensive one-off.
A Franchise-Best Debut Decades in the Making
That result rewrites the franchise’s cinematic record. The 1994 Jean-Claude Van Damme original opened to about $6.9 million and ran to roughly $33 million domestically (about $99 million worldwide, unadjusted). The 2009 Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li was an outright bomb, at roughly $4.7 million for its opening and under $9 million for its entire domestic run. The new film’s single weekend nearly tripled the 1994 opening and passed the 2009 film’s entire domestic run.
Among fighting-game adaptations, it is the second-biggest opening ever, behind Mortal Kombat II‘s $38.5 million domestic debut this past May. That comparison cuts both ways: Mortal Kombat II finished with roughly $129.5 million worldwide — a decent-but-not-great multiple that Street Fighter will need to improve on.
The reception won’t make that easy. The film sits at about 42% with critics on Rotten Tomatoes against a far warmer 79% audience score, with a B– CinemaScore — the kind of split that usually signals a front-loaded run. IMAX contributed $7.7 million globally, including $5.4 million in North America, suggesting the core fans showed up first.
What’s Next: The Second-Weekend Test
The immediate test is the second weekend. The film was built for a broad audience — a PG-13 rating and a story in which Chun-Li recruits the estranged Ryu and Ken against the dictator M. Bison — but so far the opening has been driven largely by older fans of the games.
Competition arrives fast: Warner Bros./DC’s Clayface opens October 23 — and in a quirk of the current studio landscape, both distributors now sit under the same corporate parent following Skydance’s October 6 acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. Overseas, the strongest market so far has been the United Kingdom ($3.3 million from 593 locations), followed by Mexico ($1.8 million) and Australia ($1.6 million).
It is also the first release under the three-year global distribution deal between Paramount and Legendary, raising the stakes for both studios’ future slates.
Street Fighter Box Office FAQ
How much did Street Fighter (2026) make in its opening weekend?
An estimated $31 million domestically from 3,575 theaters and $20.1 million from 66 international markets, for a $51.1 million worldwide debut — No. 1 in North America and the franchise’s best opening ever.
Who directed the 2026 Street Fighter movie?
Kitao Sakurai directed and co-wrote it with T.J. Fixman — the third live-action Street Fighter film after the 1994 original and 2009’s The Legend of Chun-Li.
Who stars in Street Fighter?
Andrew Koji as Ryu, Noah Centineo as Ken, and Callina Liang as Chun-Li — with David Dastmalchian as M. Bison, Joe “Roman Reigns” Anoa’i as Akuma, Cody Rhodes as Guile, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson as Balrog, and Jason Momoa as Blanka.
How much did Street Fighter cost to make?
The reported net production budget is about $82 million, co-financed by Legendary Pictures and Capcom, with Paramount handling distribution. Marketing costs sit on top of that.
Is this the best opening ever for a Street Fighter movie?
Yes — by a wide margin. The $31 million debut nearly tripled the 1994 film’s roughly $6.9 million opening and surpassed the 2009 film’s entire domestic run in a single weekend.
What are the reviews like?
Mixed. The film holds about 42% with critics on Rotten Tomatoes but a much warmer 79% audience score, and earned a B– CinemaScore — a split that usually points to a front-loaded box office run.
Street Fighter is playing in theaters now.