Dwayne Johnson's $200 million-plus Christmas pic opens to $34.1 million

Los Angeles — 

Moviegoers were not precisely feeling the Christmas tone this weekend, oregon astatine slightest not based connected their attendance astatine "Red One" showings.

The large budget, star-driven enactment drama with Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans sold $34.1 cardinal successful tickets successful its archetypal play successful theaters, according to workplace estimates Sunday. It easy topped a container bureau populated mostly by holdovers.

For accepted studios, a $34.1 cardinal debut against a $200 million-plus accumulation fund would beryllium a wide denotation of a flop. Some adjacent peg the fund person to $250 million. But "Red One" is an Amazon MGM Studios merchandise with the luxury of playing the agelong crippled alternatively than relying solely connected planetary container bureau wherever Johnson tentpoles often overperform. The movie whitethorn person a beingness connected Prime Video for years to come.

"Red One," successful which Johnson plays Santa's bodyguard, was primitively built to spell straight-to-streaming. It was greenlit anterior to Amazon's acquisition of MGM. One mentation of its lifecycle is that the theatrical net are not lone conscionable a bonus, but an additive motion toward struggling theaters looking for a accordant watercourse of caller films.

"Amazon has 250 cardinal positive worldwide subscribers to the platform. It's akin to the mode Netflix, I think, looks astatine worldly for their platform," said Kevin Wilson, caput of organisation for Amazon MGM Studios. "There's a there's a monolithic worth for a movie similar this successful presumption of however galore eyeballs you're going to get."

The archetypal large workplace vacation merchandise since 2018, "Red One" opened connected 4,032 screens, including IMAX and different ample formats, connected an different quiescent play for large releases.

"We're truly blessed with the results," Wilson said. "I deliberation erstwhile you look astatine the theatrical marketplace that's sometimes unforgiving, particularly for archetypal films, this is simply a bully effect for us."

Since 2020, lone 7 films that weren't sequels oregon based connected different portion of intelligence spot person opened implicit $30 cardinal (including "Oppenheimer" and "Nope.")

Warner Bros. is handling the overseas release, wherever it has made an estimated $50 cardinal successful 2 weekends from 75 territories and 14,783 screens.

Still, it's surely not a theatrical deed successful North America. Even "Joker: Folie à Deux" made somewhat much successful its archetypal weekend. "Red One," directed by Jake Kasdan and produced by Johnson's Seven Bucks, was roundly rejected by critics, with a dismal 33% Rotten Tomatoes score. Jake Coyle, successful his reappraisal for The Associated Press, wrote that it "feels similar an unwanted high-priced Christmas present."

Audiences were kinder than they were to "Joker 2," giving it an A- CinemaScore, suggesting, perhaps, that the thought of it becoming a perennial vacation favourite is not truthful off-base.

"Red One" is besides overperforming successful the mediate of the country, Wilson said, and possibly volition person a bully holdover implicit Thanksgiving arsenic a antithetic enactment to the behemoths connected the way.

Sony's "Venom: The Last Dance" added $7.4 cardinal this weekend's container bureau to instrumentality 2nd place, bringing its home full to $127.6 million. Globally, its full stands astatine $436.1 million.

Lionsgate's "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" landed successful 3rd with $5.4 million. That overmuch much modestly budgeted Christmas movie has already astir doubled its $10 cardinal accumulation fund successful 2 weeks. Fourth spot went to A24's Hugh Grant fearfulness "Heretic," with $5.2 million, bumping its full gross to $20.4 million.

Universal and DreamWorks Animation's "The Wild Robot" rounded retired the apical 5 successful its eighth play successful theaters with an further $4.3 million. The animated movie surpassed $300 cardinal worldwide.

This play is simply a spot of a stopover earlier the Thanksgiving tentpoles arrive. Next week, "Wicked" and "Gladiator II" look disconnected successful theaters with "Moana 2", which besides stars Johnson, sailing successful the Wednesday earlier the holiday.

"Gladiator II" besides got a spot of a caput commencement internationally, wherever it opened successful 63 markets this play to gross $87 million. That's a grounds for filmmaker Ridley Scott and for an R-rated planetary merchandise from Paramount. It opens successful the U.S. and Canada connected Nov. 22.

Paul Dergarabedian, the elder media expert for Comscore, said that the "Red One" is helping acceptable into question a momentum starring into the Thanksgiving corridor.

The upcoming releases, helium said, "will yet bring immoderate excitement to what has been a somewhat quiescent post-Labor Day moviegoing marketplace."

Dergarabedian added that it could beryllium "one of the biggest gross generating Thanksgiving periods successful container bureau history."

Final home figures volition beryllium released Monday. Estimated summons income for Friday done Sunday astatine U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:

1. "Red One," $34.1 million.

2. "Venom: The Last Dance," $7.4 million.

3. "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever," $5.4 million.

4. "Heretic," $5.2 million.

5. "The Wild Robot," $4.3 million.

6. "Smile 2," $3 million.

7. "Conclave," $2.9 million.

8. "Hello, Love, Again," $2.3 million.

9. "A Real Pain," $2.3 million.

10. "Anora," $1.8 million.