“Red One” kicks off the year-end tentpole parade

It's Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans to the rescue.

That's definitely the hope, because their new Christmas film, Redopens this weekend after a tough fall across North America. Tracking suggests the action-adventure film will release a domestic debut in the $30-$35 million range for Amazon MGM Studios before enjoying a long run over the year-end holiday (fingers crossed).

However, given the production cost of $250 million, there will be a lot of debate about the film's box office performance. A major legacy studio in the same situation would face intense scrutiny if a film with that price tag opened to those numbers, but Amazon insists its business model is entirely different and driven by subscribers, not just the box office. They also hope to launch a new film franchise.

And cinema operators are definitely looking forward to being able to show the first real Christmas film since before the pandemic The Grinch opened in 2018, not to mention a film with such top-notch talent.

Rated PG-13, the original story follows what happens when Santa Claus – whose code name is “Red One” – is kidnapped and the North Pole's head of security (Johnson) must team up with the world's most notorious bounty hunter (Evans), per Amazon MGM describes as a globe-spanning, action-packed mission to save Christmas.

Directed by Jake Kasdan from a screenplay by Chris Morgan and a story by Hiram Garcia. Red The film also stars Lucy Liu, Kiernan Shipka, Bonnie Hunt, Kristofer Hivju, Nick Kroll, Wesley Kimmel and JK Simmons. It's rated PG-13 in the US, where reviews weren't exactly kind.

Red is the first in a series of year-end tentpoles gearing up to open and, if all goes well, put the box office back on the good list after a tough decline due to a lack of product. November 22nd, Universal's Evil and Paramounts Gladiator II both debut, followed by Walt Disney Animation's Moana 2 on November 27th. (Many have called the high-profile corridor “Moanapocalypse” or “Glicked.”)

Amazon MGM ran a comprehensive marketing campaign for RedThis includes promoting major sporting events, coordinating an ambitious screening series and sending talent to locations around the globe.

The studio also ran a number of local promotions to reach a multicultural audience. Amazon worked with It's Boba Time, a popular AAPI-owned boba company, to create a custom order for two weeks at all 88 locations Red-Themed drink called “Missing Santa”. The studio partnered with five local Black-owned coffee shops and bakeries to host free of charge Red Drink giveaways to promote the film during opening week. Locations included Hilltop in Los Angeles and Sip and Savor in Chicago. There were also activations in 13 stores in the Los Angeles area at a popular retailer in the Latino community, Curacao.

Warner Bros. Pictures is distributing the Seven Bucks production internationally, where it opened a week early to $28 million.

Amazon gave the green light for production Red before MGM was even purchased. Insiders say the film's success will be based on its global box office combined with its performance on Prime this holiday season and in future years as a long-running Christmas favorite.