While audiences have been kinder to the film than critics, the Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans-led holiday comedy “Red One” tasted some expired eggnog at the weekend box-office. The title has come in at an estimated $34 million for the domestic box-office, a number that would be good for an average holiday comedy. With this star power and a reported $250 million budget, that’s not a good start.
Compared to other Johnson non-IP openers, the film performed better than “Skyscraper” ($24.9M) but worse than “San Andreas” ($54.4M).
Critics slammed the film, but audiences have given it a fairly good A- CinemaScore. Internationally, where it opened last weekend, it pulled in an estimated $14.7 million in its second run – a decent rop of 43%.
In fact, it held pretty well in a number of key markets with drops notably lower than that. The film is arguably the highest opening for a movie originally planned as a direct-to-streaming title, and will likely be one of two No. 1 opening films featuring Johnson this month (the other being “Moana 2”).
Faring decidedly better is Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator II” which opened outside of the U.S. and China this weekend in 63 international box office markets and is doing strong business.
That film reportedly debuted to an estimated $87 million – the biggest overseas start for a Ridley Scott-directed film to date and the best start for a U.S. R-rated movie from Paramount Pictures.
Also of note, Sony’s “Venom: The Last Dance.
