Red One is already coming to Prime Video

Less than a month after opening in theaters, the Dwayne Johnson-led Christmas flick Red One is coming to Prime Video. The company announced this morning that the film will be available on Prime Video starting December 12. A spokesperson from Prime Video confirmed that the film will be available to stream for subscribers, as opposed to being a rental.

Red One opened in theaters on November 15 to mostly negative reviews; we gave it a C-, and it currently sits at 31% on Rotten Tomatoes. The reviews certainly didn’t help its box office grosses, either; in the weeks since its release, Red One has brought in about $164 million against at least a $200 million budget. But, supposedly, this was part of the plan.

In November, Variety reported that the press garnered from releasing the film to theaters was part of the plan to get people excited for when it finally came to streaming, and they would make their money that way. (Not to mention merchandising.) Insiders interviewed for their story suggested that spending $250 million on a film destined for streaming has numbered days, and that it’s something that rival streamer Netflix more or less has given up on. (Even White Noise, which made practically no money, is estimated to have cost $140 million at most.) But given that Prime Video is owned by, you know, Amazon, figures like this are likely pocket change to their bottom line. Guess we’ll see if they adapt their strategy going forward.

This story has been updated to include a statement from Prime Video.