‘Street Fighter' KO'd by Critics with 38% on Rotten Tomatoes, 45 on Metacritic — Still Aims for a $30M Opening

The reviews are in for Kitao Sakurai's "Street Fighter," and they're about what you'd expect when a studio waits until the last minute to let critics talk.

The reboot currently sits at 38% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 45 on Metacritic. Press screenings were only held Wednesday afternoon, leaving critics very little time before Friday's opening — never a sign of confidence.

The complaints seem consistent with Sakurai getting the visuals right, but the film is weighed down by a tonally messy script. They’re correct. The plot is unfocused, hit-or-miss jokes and underused characters in a crowded ensemble.

Now, the box office. The film is aiming for a $30 million domestic debut, $70M worldwide, but tracking has been all over the place. Box Office Theory tracker TheFlatLannister thought it was probably headed for around $20 million after first-day presales, while Global Box Office had it heading toward a $30M–$37M debut. My gut says the reviews drag it toward the low end.

As for the budget, "Street Fighter" cost $82M, which means it would need $200M+ to break even, and at this stage of the game, that's far from guaranteed. The lack of a release deal in China further complicates the situation, although that could change in the coming weeks.

Complete: The ensemble is as eccentric as it gets: Eric André, David Dastmalchian, Cody Rhodes, 50 Cent, Jason Momoa, Andrew Schulz, Orville Peck, Roman Reigns, Andrew Koji, Noah Centineo, Kyle Mooney, and Callina Liang. Whoever cast this film probably thought they were playing 4D chess. Turns out, it was checkers.

To be fair, the bar for this franchise very low. The 1994 Van Damme film opened to $6.8M and 2009's ‘The Legend of Chun-Li’ to just $4.7M.

Competition is light. “Street Fighter” is opening against "Whalefall," expected at $11M, and Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim's Theranos doc "You Can See Everything," which holds 100% on Rotten Tomatoes and is eyeing around $10M.