"Red One," an action-comedy wrapped in a festive Christmas setting, starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as Santa's head of security, unlocked a modest $34.1 million from 4,032 North American theaters during its cinematic debut. This ticket sales tally was sufficient to claim the top spot at the domestic box office, dethroning "Venom: The Last Dance" after its three-week reign. However, the Amazon MGM flick carried a hefty price tag of $250 million before factoring in a global marketing budget of approximately $100 million. Consequently, "Red One" is poised to ignite another round of discourse on what constitutes success in an era where streaming services are disrupting traditional business models. Take "Joker: Folie à Deux," released by Warner Bros., as an illustration; it was deemed a colossal flop with an opening of $37 million against a budget of $200 million.
While a $34 million opening isn't dire for an original Christmas film initially intended for streaming, "Red One" must maintain its theater presence throughout the holiday season to justify its substantial cost. Critics panned the movie, awarding it a "rotten" average of 33% on Rotten Tomatoes. Fortunately for Amazon MGM, audiences were captivated by the tale of Santa's (J.K. Simmons) kidnapping, which sparks a daring rescue mission led by his North Pole bodyguard (Johnson) and a proficient bounty hunter (Chris Evans). The film garnered an "A-" CinemaScore from its inaugural audiences.
"The production cost was an estimated $250 million. That's an astronomical amount for a Santa Claus story," remarks David A. Gross, who heads the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. "The opening isn't catastrophic, but it's insufficient to recoup the $250 million investment, even before marketing and distribution expenses. A film like this shouldn't have exceeded $150 million in budget."
Amazon MGM contends that high-budget blockbusters don't need to triumph at the box office to be deemed successful. The deep-pocketed streamer prioritizes factors beyond box office revenues and views the big screen as a catalyst for generating buzz for Prime Video. Yet, streaming service viewership data isn't reported as consistently as theatrical revenues. Hence, it's impossible to ascertain if the financial gamble ever pays off—although a hint could be whether Amazon MGM greenlights "Red One Two."
"We don't perceive a double standard for streamers and studios," asserts Gross. "Amazon, Apple, and Netflix aren't in the habit of losing money. Their budgets are reassessed to align with the current market, akin to everyone else's. The entire industry has encountered similar troubles at some point."
In a distant second place, "Venom 3" added another $7.3 million from 3,421 theaters in its fourth weekend of release. The third and final installment in Sony's Tom Hardy-led symbiote saga has amassed $127.6 million domestically. It's trailing behind its predecessors, 2018's "Venom" ($213 million domestically and $856 million globally) and 2021's "Let There Be Carnage" ($213 million domestically and $506 million worldwide). However, "The Last Dance" was relatively budget-friendly at $120 million (at least compared to other comic book adaptations), positioning it decently during its theatrical run.
Lionsgate's family-friendly "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" secured the third spot with $5.4 million from 3,020 venues, a 50% decline from its debut. After two weekends on the big screen, the heartwarming holiday film has grossed $19.9 million.
A24's horror film "Heretic" slipped to fourth place with $5.16 million from 3,230 screens, also experiencing a roughly 50% drop from its opening weekend. This cat-and-mouse thriller follows two young Mormon missionaries to the doorstep of a sinister Englishman and has accumulated $20.4 million after ten days of release.
Rounding out the top five, Universal and DreamWorks Animation's "The Wild Robot" tallied $4.3 million from 2,894 theaters in its eighth week. Ticket sales for the family film have barely declined week over week (this weekend saw a mere 35% drop despite the movie being available for rental on premium video-on-demand), bringing its domestic total to $137.7 million and its global tally to $308 million.
