It’s time for the holiday movie season, and Amazon’s kicking things off with its action-comedy feature Red One. The film has a lot of star power behind it, with Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans playing an odd couple tasked with saving a kidnapped Santa Claus (J.K. Simmons), and its trailers have made it seem like it could be either surprisingly good or a complete mess. And the answer appears to be kind of both?
Reaction-wise, audiences have taken to Red One much more than critics, most of whom did not really care for it. That’s further reflected in its just okay box office: of the film’s $84.1 million box office, $34.1 million of that was domestic, and generally in line with its projected $30-35 million range. However, as noted by Variety, the movie itself reportedly cost a hefty $250 million to make, and its biggest accomplishment is halting Venom: The Last Dance’s continued domestic reign over the last few weeks. Time might not also be on Red One’s side, since it’s about to be a pretty crowded time at the movies between Wicked: Part I, Gladiator II, and Moana 2 in the next few weeks, all of which have either gotten positive reviews or reactions or are already projected to make a ton of money.
So depending on your thinking, it might be curtains for Red One’s theatrical run in the near future—though Amazon MGM’s theatrical head isn’t quite looking to throw in the towel just yet. Amidst those other movies, he believes the Christmas flick “offers something a little different than those movies,” but stopped short of saying what that something different is. But even if the movie’s not a box office hit, the studio’s more confident it’ll land with audiences once it hits Prime Video, similar to how April’s Road House remake was such a streaming hit to get a sequel greenlit. According to him, Amazon films getting theatrical runs can help cover the marketing costs ahead of streaming, which is reason enough to let them play on the big screen for a few weeks.
Whenever Red One hits Prime Video, the real way to determine its success is how (or if) Amazon and Johnson brag about its viewership. Who knows if there’s any hopes to turn this into a holiday franchise, but no doubt one or either parties would like this to be a win, even if it’s just being a reliable movie to have in holiday rotation for the next few years.
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