“Red One,” a Christmas-set action comedy starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Santa’s head of security, unwrapped a soft $34.1 million from 4,032 North American theaters in its box office debut.
Those ticket sales were enough to top the domestic box office, ending the three-week reign of “Venom: The Last Dance.” However, the Amazon MGM film cost $250 million before accounting for global marketing efforts of roughly $100 million.
So far, the third and final entry in Sony’s Tom Hardy-led symbiote saga has generated $127.6 million at the domestic box office and $436.1 million globally.
With “Red One” failing to bring the holiday cheer, overall domestic box office revenues remain down more than 11% from 2023 and nearly 27% from 2019, according to Comscore.
“The one-two punch of ‘Wicked’ and ‘Gladiator II’ are poised to deliver, along with “Moana 2,” one of the biggest Thanksgiving periods in box office history,” says senior Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian.
With Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson playing Santa’s head of security, the action comedy “Red One,” which is set during the Christmas season, opened with a soft $34.1 million from 4,032 North American theaters.
The domestic box office was topped by those ticket sales, ending “Venom: The Last Dance’s” three-week dominance. ” However, the Amazon MGM film cost $250 million before accounting for global marketing efforts of roughly $100 million. In light of the fact that streaming services are rethinking their conventional business models, “Red One” is certain to start another discussion about what constitutes a success. An example would be Warner Bros.’ “Joker: Folie à Deux.”. was immediately branded a failure, starting with $37 million out of a $200 million budget. However, despite an equally enormous production cost, Apple and Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which opened to $23 million, was categorized more favorably.
For an original Christmas movie that was originally commissioned for streaming, a $34 million domestic debut isn’t bad, but “Red One” will need to be shown in theaters throughout the holiday season to make up for its exorbitant price tag. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 33 percent “rotten” rating, indicating that critics didn’t like it. Fortunately for Amazon MGM, however, the tale of Santa’s (J) abduction captivated viewers. K. Simmons), whose hostage situation prompts a professional bounty hunter (Chris Evans) and his North Pole bodyguard (Johnson) to go on a rescue mission. The movie received an “A-” rating from its first audiences on CinemaScore.
It was estimated that the production cost was $250 million. For a Santa Claus story, that’s a lot of money, says David A. Gross, who is the head of Franchise Entertainment Research, a consulting company for motion pictures. Although the opening is not a complete failure, $250 million before marketing and distribution makes it insufficient. This kind of movie shouldn’t have cost more than $150 million to produce. “”.
We don’t see a double standard for studios and streamers,” he continues. Losing money is not the business of Amazon, Apple, or Netflix. “”.
Internationally, where Warner Bros. handling distribution, “Red One” earned $14.07 million more from 75 markets during its second weekend of release. As a result, the movie has made $50 million abroad and $84.1 million worldwide.
We must wait and see how this affects the holidays. Kevin Wilson, head of theatrical distribution for Amazon MGM’s upcoming films “Wicked,” “Gladiator II,” and “Moana 2,” says, “We have big competition coming behind us… that’s no secret.”. However, we provide a slightly different experience than those films. “.”.
Big-budget tentpoles don’t have to perform well on the big screen to be considered a success, claims Amazon MGM. The well-funded streamer sees the big screen as a means of creating buzz for Prime Video and is far more concerned with making money than box office receipts. However, the reporting of streaming service viewership data is less consistent than that of theater receipts. Therefore, it’s impossible to predict whether the financial risk will ever pay off, but it will be a clue if Amazon MGM approves “Red One Two.”. “”.
With an additional $7.3 million from 3,421 theaters in its fourth weekend of release, “Venom 3” came in a far-off second. The third and last installment in Sony’s Tom Hardy-led symbiote saga has made $127.6 million at the domestic box office and $436.11 million worldwide so far. “The Last Dance” continues to lag behind its franchise predecessors, “Let There Be Carnage” (2017) ($213 million domestically and $506 million worldwide) and “Venom” (2018) ($213 million domestically and $856 million globally). However, the threequel will be in a respectable position during its theatrical run because it only cost $120 million, which is relatively low when compared to other comic book adaptations.
The family-friendly “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” from Lionsgate won the No. third place with $5.4 million from 3,020 venues, a 50% decrease from its launch. After two weekends on the big screen, the feel-good holiday film has grossed $19.9 million in North America.
The horror movie “Heretic” from A24 fell to fourth place with $5.16 million from 3,230 screens, a 50% decrease from its first weekend of release. After ten days of release, the cat-and-mouse thriller, which follows two young Mormon missionaries to the door of a shadowy Englishman, has brought in $20.4 million.
Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s “The Wild Robot” rounded out the top five with $4.3 million from 2,894 theaters in its eighth frame. The family movie’s domestic total has reached $137.7 million, while its worldwide total has reached $308 million. This weekend’s ticket sales were down just 35%, despite the fact that the film is available for rent on premium video-on-demand.
Comscore reports that overall domestic box office receipts are down nearly 27% from 2019 and more than 11% from 2023 due to “Red One’s” failure to bring the holiday cheer. When three blockbuster contenders, Universal’s “Wicked” and Paramount’s “Gladiator II,” open in November, moviegoing is predicted to soar around Thanksgiving. as well as Disney’s “Moana 2” in November. 27 — make their big-screen debut.
According to Paul Dergarabedian, a senior Comscore analyst, “Moana 2 and the one-two punch of ‘Wicked’ and ‘Gladiator II’ are poised to deliver,” one of the biggest Thanksgiving periods in box office history. “And it must arrive as soon as possible. ”.
