Will “Red One,” a Christmas action-comedy where Dwayne Johnson plays Santa’s head of security, bring movie theaters a box office bounty?
The film, from Amazon MGM, is targeting $30 million to $35 million from 4,032 locations in its first weekend of release. Independent tracking services are mixed, suggesting that “Red One” could earn as little as $25 million and as much as $40 million in its debut. We’re leaning on the lower side of that scale.
Ticket sales on the higher end of that range would be decent for an original holiday film. However, “Red One” cost $250 million before accounting for global marketing efforts. So either way, the movie will need positive word-of-mouth to portend a long life in theaters and justify its cost. Of course, Amazon MGM cares about much more than box office grosses and maintains that its big-budget tentpoles don’t need to score on the big screen to be deemed a success.
The streaming behemoth views movie theaters as a way to lure top talent to projects as well as generate buzz for the streaming service, Prime Video. However, viewership data from streamers aren’t reported as uniformly as box office returns, so it’s impossible to determine if the financial gamble ever pays off. In the case of “Red One,” the film was commissioned for streaming before Amazon MGM opted to bring it to theaters, so any box office returns will be a bonus for the studio and exhibitors.
via Variety
John Pallister
I'm all about having fun in geek culture, but keeping my family safe!
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