‘Street Fighter’ tops global box office with $51m opening punch; ‘Sense And Sensibility’ enters top 10

Worldwide box office: Oct 16-18

Credit: Rentrak. All figures are estimates

‘Street Fighter’ is box office top dog

Paramount’s Street Fighter tops the worldwide box office for the October 16-18 weekend session with an estimated $51.2m – the lowest chart-topping number since mid-September, when Practical Magic 2 achieved this feat with a middling $46.0m debut.

So far, North America ($31.0m) is running ahead of international ($20.1m) for Street Fighter, which is presented by Paramount Pictures and Legendary Pictures in association with videogame company Capcom. Imax delivered $7.7m of the $51.2m opening total.

UK/Ireland leads international markets with an estimated $3.3m, ahead of Mexico ($1.8m), Australia ($1.6m), Brazil ($1.2m), France ($1.1m), Japan ($875,000) and Germany ($850,000).

Directed by Kitao Sakurai, the film boasts an eclectic ensemble cast combining the likes of Noah Centineo, Jason Momoa and rapper Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson with martial artist Andrew Koji and WWE wrestlers Cody Rhodes and Joe ’Roman Reigns’ Anoa’i.

The Street Fighter videogame series was earlier notably adapted for the big screen in 1994, with a Universal Pictures film starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. Box office reached $99.4m worldwide, according to available data. (Comparisons in this report are not adjusted for inflation.)

Production budget for this new Street Fighter film is reported at $82m. Given revenue splits with cinemas and marketing costs, the film has a fair way to go to achieve profitability – but the budget below $100m at least gives the autumn tentpole a fighting chance of doing so.

‘Jailer 2’ is close behind with $44m launch

Street Fighter tops the worldwide box office ahead of Indian film Jailer 2, which lands in second place with an estimated $31.2m from 20 markets for the weekend period, and $44.5m since release last Thursday (October 15). North America contributes $5.3m of this total.

Nelson Dilipkumar’s Tamil-language action comedy is a sequel to his 2023 film Jailer, starring Rajinikanth in the title role. Lifetime box office for Jailer has been estimated at $73m.

‘Whalefall’ swims to $17.5m debut

Disney’s Whalefall enters the worldwide weekend chart in sixth place with an estimated $17.5m – just below a trio of holdover titles, Resident Evil, Other Mommy and Verity. Brian Duffield’s survival thriller saw international markets ($9.5m) edge ahead of North America ($8.0m).

The 20th Century Studios release stars Resident Evil’s Austin Abrams as a young man trapped inside a sperm whale, and is adapted from Daniel Kraus’ 2023 novel. The producer roster includes Brian Grazer for Imagine Entertainment.

Among international markets, Whalefall performed best in Mexico (an estimated $800,000), with UK/Ireland and China tied on $700,000, and France, Japan and Germany estimated at $500,000. Production budget is reported at $60m.

Among the holdover titles above Whalefall in the chart, Sony’s Resident Evil has now reached $361.2m – pulling convincingly ahead of the franchise’s previous best result (2016’s Resident Evil: The Final Chapter with $312.2m).

Amazon MGM Studios’ Verity has reached $145.3m worldwide – well ahead of the lifetime cumulative totals for previous Colleen Hoover adaptations Regretting You ($90.5m) and Reminders Of Him ($89.3m), but behind It Ends With Us ($351.4m).

‘Sense And Sensibility’ enters top 10 chart

Universal Picture/Focus Features’ Sense And Sensibility has entered the worldwide weekend top 10 chart for the first time, buoyed by release in North America (an estimated $7.25m opening). Worldwide total is now $18.5m.

Georgia Oakley’s Jane Austen adaptation expanded its footprint to 23 markets at the weekend, also opening in Australia (an estimated $781,000), Netherlands ($358,000), Germany ($291,000) and 12 other territories.

In cumulative, UK/Ireland leads with $7.7m after four weeks of release. France has reached $1.0m.

Future key markets include both Italy and Spain this coming week, with South Korea, Brazil and Mexico all later this month.

In 2020, Focus Features’ Austen adaptation Emma achieved a Covid-impacted $16.3m worldwide over its lifetime. In 2005, Focus Features’ Pride & Prejudice reached $131.9m worldwide. In 1995, Sony’s Sense And Sensibility (directed by Ang Lee) achieved $134.8m.

‘You Can See Everything’ crashes box office party with North America release

A24 documentary You Can See Everything lands in seventh place in the worldwide weekend listing from release solely in North America – with an estimated $15.0m. It’s the biggest documentary debut in the market since 2004’s Fahrenheit 9/11, not counting concert films.

Directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, You Can See Everything tracks the final days of freedom for disgraced Theranos co-founder Elizabeth Holmes, before she delivered herself to begin an 11-year prison sentence for defrauding investors.

Global rollout for the film will follow. The UK/Ireland release is set for November 20 via A24.

Making way for this week’s four new entries in the top 10 chart are a quartet of titles falling out of the listing: Warner Bros’ Digger, Sony’s The Social Reckoning, Universal/DreamWorks’ Forgotten Island and Indian crime thriller Drishyam: The Conclusion.

Forgotten Island added an estimated $5.6m worldwide at the weekend, taking the total to $60.3m. Among new openers, UK/Ireland leads with $1.7m. In cumulative, top international markets are Australia ($5.0m) and Philippines ($3.9m). Latter territory is the where the film is set. The global rollout is ongoing.

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