Fielder doc opens to $15M, behind Street Fighter’s $31M

Paramount’s Street Fighter opened at No. 1 with an estimated $31 million US over the weekend of Oct. 16 to 18, while A24’s You Can See Everything, co-directed by Vancouver-born comedian Nathan Fielder, took second place with $15 million, according to weekend estimates.

The documentary’s $15 million came from just 855 theatres, or about $17,544 per location, roughly double the $8,671 average for Street Fighter across 3,575 theatres. It also beat the $12.5 million to $13 million that trade outlets projected on Saturday, as we reported on Oct. 17.

Street Fighter, a $82 million co-production between Legendary and Capcom, also earned about $51 million worldwide, including roughly $20 million outside North America, TheWrap reported, as relayed by Just Jared. The outlet noted the figures could change when final totals are released.

That domestic opening is lower than the $38.5 million that this year’s Mortal Kombat II made in its debut, the comparison TheWrap drew before the weekend. In its Saturday reporting, TheWrap said Street Fighter had earned a B- CinemaScore and an 80 per cent Rotten Tomatoes audience score. It also warned that, like Mortal Kombat II, the film could be frontloaded, with most of its money arriving in the first days. Next weekend’s drop will show whether that holds.

The Fielder result is the stronger story against expectations. MyNewsLA reported that $15 million is the second-best opening weekend for a documentary, behind Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, which made $23.9 million in 2004. Before the weekend, TheWrap had pointed to the $7.1 million opening of Amazon MGM’s Melania in February as the recent benchmark for a non-music documentary. The film, directed by Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, took $1.75 million in Thursday previews, as we reported on Oct. 16.

Behind the top two, Universal’s Other Mommy fell 70 per cent to $8.35 million in its second weekend, for a North American total of about $44.9 million. Whalefall opened at $8 million from 3,065 theatres, and Sense and Sensibility opened at $7.25 million from 2,545 theatres, according to the Seat42F chart, which cites Box Office Mojo. MyNewsLA put the full weekend at an estimated $103.8 million, citing Rentrak, and the year-to-date total at $8.21 billion, up 20 per cent from the same point last year.

For Canadian moviegoers, the box office totals used by trade outlets combine U.S. and Canadian ticket sales and are quoted in U.S. dollars. Neither source reported separate Canadian figures for either film. Fielder, known for Nathan for You and The Rehearsal, is the highest-profile Canadian name on the chart, and his film arrives as theatre chains enjoy a strong run: Cineplex recently posted a record $215.7 million in third-quarter box office.

All figures are studio and industry estimates released Sunday, Oct. 18, and actual totals are normally published on Monday. This story will be updated if the actuals differ materially. Via Seat42F, MyNewsLA and TheWrap.

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