Street Fighter’s First Reactions Are In, and They’re All Over the Place Ahead of Its October 16 Release

Street Fighter had its Los Angeles premiere on Monday, October 12, at the TCL Chinese Theatre, and the live-action adaptation hits theaters everywhere, including IMAX, this Friday, October 16. With the embargo lifted this week, the first wave of critic and influencer reactions has arrived, and it paints a picture of a movie that’s going to split audiences right down the middle.

A Stacked Cast Brings the World Warrior Tournament to the Big Screen

Directed by Kitao Sakurai from a screenplay he co-wrote with T.J. Fixman, the film is set in 1993 and follows Chun-Li as she recruits estranged fighters Ryu and Ken Masters for the next World Warrior Tournament, a competition hiding a conspiracy that pits the two against each other and against their own pasts. Andrew Koji plays Ryu, Noah Centineo plays Ken, and Callina Liang plays Chun-Li, backed by one of the stranger ensemble casts in recent memory: Jason Momoa as Blanka, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson as Balrog, David Dastmalchian as M. Bison, Vidyut Jammwal as Dhalsim, Orville Peck as Vega, and Olivier Richters as Zangief. WWE stars Cody Rhodes and Joe “Roman Reigns” Anoa’i round things out as Guile and Akuma, while Eric Andre plays Don Sauvage, an original character created for the film rather than a video game holdover. Legendary Pictures produced the movie, and Paramount Pictures is distributing it, with a runtime of 119 minutes.

Ryu and Ken face off in the official Street Fighter trailer, released ahead of the film’s October 16 theatrical debut.

Early Reactions Split Between “Perfect” and “Falls Flat”

The praise leans heavily on nostalgia and the film’s hand-drawn animated flashback sequences. ComicBook.com’s Chris Killian described the fights as “like Bloodsport on horse steroids, featuring some delightfully over-the-top, explosive action,” and several other reactions singled out Noah Centineo and Andrew Koji’s chemistry as Ken and Ryu, along with Callina Liang’s take on Chun-Li, as the film’s strongest asset. The 90s throwback tone and the arcade-accurate character designs are getting consistent love across the board.

Not everyone is on board, though. Mama’s Geeky’s Tessa Smith felt the film “ultimately falls flat,” writing that “the jokes rarely land & it feels like half a movie,” even while praising the look of the cast and the animated sequences. Other reactions pointed to an uneven tone and a script that doesn’t always know what it wants to be, a common growing pain for video game movies trying to balance fan service with an actual story.

Prediction Markets Aren’t Betting on a Fresh Score

Street Fighter doesn’t have an official Rotten Tomatoes critics score yet, as the embargo for full reviews hadn’t lifted at the time of writing. But the prediction market Kalshi has traders forecasting a critics score in the low 40s as of October 13, which would land the film in “Rotten” territory if it holds. That lines up with how split the early reactions have been, though it’s worth remembering these are betting odds based on early buzz, not an actual tally of reviews.

Street Fighter is just the latest entry in gaming’s ongoing push into Hollywood, following Xbox’s new XP division aimed at turning its own franchises into movies and shows. Whether this one ends up remembered as a cult favorite or a cautionary tale, audiences get to make the final call starting this Friday.

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Picture Source: Paramount Pictures (YouTube), Paramount Pictures UK (YouTube)