Red One tops a lackluster weekend box office

Last week, we predicted that Venom: The Last Dance would lose its odd grip on the number one spot at the box office the minute a big studio tentpole popped into the mix. Turns out it didn’t take a huge franchise film—or even a relatively successful entry—at all: just a floppy Christmas clunker spurred on by some crazy CGI snowmen and (confirmed) bottle-peeing rumors.

Yeah, we’re talking about Red One, the Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans-led Santa-kidnapping caper produced for Prime Video. The film brought in a mere $34 million against its unduly massive $250 million budget (via Deadline), which on the surface seems like a gift from the Grinch himself. However, according to the trade, these returns might not be as disastrous as they initially seem—or were in the case of a similar failure like Joker: Folie à Deux. “Amazon is a place where there’s no stakes,” a source told Deadline, explaining that losses like this affect streaming platforms far less than they would a traditional studio. When the movie actually comes to the platform it will include ads and potentially spur on merch sales, which will add to the pot. If this thing manages to do decent numbers throughout the rest of the month, it certainly won’t be a total failure. (The quality of the movie itself is a different story entirely, of course.)

The same can’t be said for Venom: The Last Dance which comes in at a distant number two with $7 million. This weekend’s box office isn’t too healthy overall, with low numbers from other top five entrants like The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and Heretic, as well as films lower down the list. Domestic box office revenues are down 11% from 2023 and nearly 27% from 2019, according to Variety, which isn’t, uh, great. Hopefully the one-two punch of Wicked and Gladiator will give it the magical boost it needs this upcoming weekend.

You can check out the full top ten, courtesy of Box Office Mojo, below:

Red One, $34,073,448
Venom: The Last Dance, $7,355,381
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, $5,400,000
Heretic, $5,167,153
The Wild Robot, $4,300,000
Smile 2, $2,950,000
Conclave, $2,851,000
Hello, Love, Again, $2,326,000
A Real Pain, $2,300,000
Anora, $1,839,000