“This is a soft opening for a movie that was designed from the beginning to launch a new Christmas action-comedy series,” said analyst David A Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.
He said the film was a crowd-pleaser but that its US$250 million budget – including a reported US$50 million cost overrun – meant its opening was “not a disaster but … not enough” to ensure profitability.
The Christmas comedy has Dwayne (“the Rock”) Johnson, as head of North Pole security, enlisting the help of a hacker (Chris Evans) to track down a kidnapped Santa Claus (played by the not-exactly-jolly JK Simmons) on Christmas Eve.
“Red One” unseated Sony’s horror movie “Venom: The Last Dance,” which slipped to second, taking in an estimated US$7.4 million in its fourth weekend out.
“Venom,” starring Tom Hardy, has now earned US$127.6 million domestically and $308 million internationally.
In third place was Lionsgate’s comedy-drama “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” at US$5.4 million. Pete Holmes stars in the tale of a notoriously rowdy bunch of siblings who end up giving a surprising performance in a small town’s Christmas show.
A24’s horror movie “Heretic,” which has famous charmer Hugh Grant turning decidedly fiendish, dropped one spot from last weekend to fourth, with ticket sales of US$5.2 million.
Slipping to fifth but still raking in US$4.3 million in its eighth weekend out was Universal’s family-friendly animation “The Wild Robot.”
Rounding out the top 10 were:
- “Smile 2” (US$3 million)
- “Conclave” (US$2.9 million)
- “Hello, Love Again” (US$2.4 million)
- “A Real Pain” (US$2.3 million)
- “Anora” (US$1.8 million)