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Halloween is over, so that means it’s time for the Christmas season (sorry, Thanksgiving) — and Dwayne Johnson is here to usher in the yuletide early with “Red One.”
His Christmas action movie with Chris Evans has made $3.7 million at the box office so far in Thursday previews. The Amazon MGM film is on track to make between $30 million and $35 million, with some projections lower at $25 million and others as high as $40 million. With a massive budget of $250 million, plus marketing costs, it’ll take a Christmas miracle for “Red One” to become a profitable hit at the box office. However, Amazon MGM is also focused on driving people to its Amazon Prime Video streaming service (where “Red One” will later land), so box office grosses aren’t as high on the deep-pocketed company’s wish list.
Johnson, who also produced “Red One” through his Seven Bucks production company, is reteaming with his “Jumanji” director Jake Kasdan for the Christmas action-adventure. He plays Callum Drift, the head of Santa’s security force, who teams up with crooked bounty hunter Jack O’Malley (Evans) to track down St. Nick after he’s been kidnapped. Their chilly journey leads them to battle buff snowmen, Santa’s evil brother Krampus, the winter witch Gryla and more frigid foes. The cast includes J.K. Simmons as Santa, Lucy Liu, Kiernan Shipka as Gryla, Kristofer Hivju as Krampus, Bonnie Hunt as Mrs. Claus and more.
Popular on Variety As the only new major release this weekend, “Red One” will have no problem taking the box office crown from three-time winner “Venom: The Last Dance” and other holdovers like “Conclave,” “Heretic” and “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.”
