Street Fighter Opens at No. 1 With $31 Million, a Muted First Test for Paramount's Legendary Deal
The Legendary-made game adaptation took an estimated $51.1 million worldwide on 16-18 October against an $82 million budget, trailing Mortal Kombat II's debut and leaving a long road to break-even.
Key facts
- Street Fighter opened at No. 1 on the North American chart for 16-18 October 2026 with an estimated $31 million from 3,575 theaters.[1]
- Street Fighter earned an estimated $51.1 million worldwide in its opening weekend, including about $20.1 million from international markets.[1][2]
- Mortal Kombat II opened to a $63 million global debut on an $80 million reported budget, against Street Fighter's $82 million budget.[2]
- Screen Rant reported Street Fighter holds a B- CinemaScore, a 41% Rotten Tomatoes critics score and an estimated break-even of as much as $205 million worldwide.[2]
- Street Fighter is the first theatrical release under Legendary's new global distribution deal with Paramount, and was co-financed by Legendary and Capcom.[3]
- Paramount and Warner Bros. together took in about $941.6 million at the North American box office from 1 January to 11 October 2026, fourth behind Universal, Disney and Sony.[3]
Street Fighter, the Legendary Entertainment film distributed by Paramount Pictures, opened at No. 1 on the North American chart for 16-18 October 2026 with an estimated $31 million from 3,575 theaters, according to weekend estimates compiled from Box Office Mojo. Adding about $20.1 million from overseas markets, the video game adaptation reached a $51.1 million worldwide start against a reported $82 million net production budget.
The numbers are studio estimates and will be revised on Monday. A Screen Rant report built on Variety's Sunday-morning figures put the domestic total at $30 million and the international total at $21.1 million, which still sums to $51.1 million worldwide.
What the weekend chart shows
Street Fighter more than doubled the gross of the runner-up. According to the same weekend table, the Elizabeth Holmes documentary *You Can See Everything*, released by A24, took second place with an estimated $15 million from only 855 theaters, an average of about $17,544 per location, the highest in the top 10. *Other Mommy*, the horror release that led the previous weekend, fell 70% to $8.35 million. *Whalefall* opened fourth with $8 million domestically and $9.5 million internationally, or $17.5 million worldwide. The top 10 together grossed about $91.7 million.
Street Fighter was the widest release on the chart, yet it earned only about twice the gross of a documentary playing in fewer than a quarter as many theaters. Its opening landed inside the $25 million to $35 million domestic range that Dark Horizons, citing Deadline, had published before release.
How does it compare with other video game films?
The reference point for the film is *Mortal Kombat II*, another fighting-game adaptation. According to the Screen Rant report, *Mortal Kombat II* had a $80 million reported budget and a $63 million global debut, split between $40 million in North America and $23 million internationally. Street Fighter's $51.1 million worldwide opening is about 19% lower. Its Thursday previews, reported at about $4 million, also trailed the $5.2 million that *Mortal Kombat II* earned in previews, according to Innovation Village, which cited Deadline for the preview figure.
Within the 2026 slate of games-based films, Street Fighter ranks well below the leaders. Screen Rant's worldwide table lists *The Super Mario Galaxy Movie* at about $1.013 billion, *Resident Evil* at $361.1 million and *Mortal Kombat II* at $129.6 million. Street Fighter's $51.1 million places it just ahead of *Iron Lung* at $50 million, *Return to Silent Hill* at $47.5 million and *Exit 8* at $43.9 million. Among the titles listed, the film sits fourth on the 2026 games-based chart, far behind the top three.
Audience and critic signals are mixed. Screen Rant reports a 41% critics score and a 79% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, plus a CinemaScore of B-, one notch below the B that *Mortal Kombat II* received. Those grades matter because the film is rated PG-13, a choice Innovation Village notes contrasts with the R ratings of the recent *Mortal Kombat* films and was intended to widen the audience. A B- from opening-night viewers suggests modest word of mouth, and the second weekend will show how steep the decline is.
Why the Paramount and Legendary arrangement matters
Street Fighter is the first theatrical release under a new global distribution deal between Legendary and Paramount, according to Innovation Village. That outlet is explicit that the film is not a joint production of the merged studio operation, which means the opening is a test of Paramount's distribution muscle rather than of the combined Paramount and Warner Bros. production slate. Legendary and the game's publisher Capcom co-financed the film, per the same report, so the economics are shared among the financiers.
The context is the consolidation of the two studios. Innovation Village reports that Paramount and Warner Bros. together took in about $941.6 million at the North American box office between 1 January and 11 October, which placed the pair fourth behind Universal, Disney and Sony. Six more releases are scheduled for the rest of 2026, and the article names *Clayface*, *The Cat in the Hat*, *Ebenezer*, *Dune: Part Three* and *The Angry Birds 3*. A $31 million opening does not change that ranking on its own. It does, however, give the merged company's executives one more data point on how a mid-budget franchise title performs when released through their network.
What it needs to break even
Screen Rant puts the estimated break-even point as high as $205 million worldwide, an outside estimate. The same report considers it unlikely that the film passes $200 million. If Street Fighter follows the path of *Mortal Kombat II*, it could finish with roughly $105 million worldwide, and weaker word of mouth would mean less.
Innovation Village makes a related point: with an $82 million budget, the opening weekend alone cannot establish profitability, and later-week performance, marketing and distribution costs will determine the outcome. Strength outside the United States and Canada is the open question. The overseas debut of about $20 million to $21 million was well below the mid-$30 million range that Dark Horizons, citing Deadline, had projected before release, which is where the shortfall against forecasts lies.
What we don't know yet
Several figures remain unconfirmed. The Sunday numbers are estimates, and the studio's actuals could move the domestic total by a few hundred thousand dollars in either direction. None of the sources reviewed reports the film's international market breakdown or its marketing spend, so the break-even figure is an outside estimate and not a company disclosure. Screen Rant's 41% critics score is a snapshot that can drift as more reviews are counted. A projected final gross of about $105 million is a scenario built on one comparison, not a forecast from the studio.
What happens next
The second weekend, on 23-25 October, will show whether the B- CinemaScore translates into a steep drop. *Mortal Kombat II* opened to $38.5 million domestically and, as Dark Horizons noted, faded quickly, so the benchmark for a steady hold is not a high one.
