As someone who has been closely following the box office trends for decades, I must say, this past weekend was a breath of fresh air. The seemingly unstoppable force that is Chris Evans and Dwayne Johnson’s collaboration, Red One, not only managed to defy the critics but also reignited the spirit of cinema-going in these challenging times.
In spite of the widespread criticism directed towards Red One, it claimed the top spot at the weekend box office with a domestic earning of $34.1 million. Additionally, despite the harsh criticisms leveled against their Christmas collaboration, viewers seemed undeterred and snapped up tickets in droves. Although director Jake Kasdan’s film garnered only 33% on the Tomatometer, it appears that fans wholeheartedly backed the latest offering from Amazon MGM Studios.
Movie-watchers exiting cinemas immediately rated the film “Red One” a noteworthy “A-” on CinemaScore, contrasting starkly with the 33% it received from critics on Rotten Tomatoes (based on 120 reviews). However, the Popcornmeter, previously known as the RT audience score, showed that viewers appreciatively gave Evans and Johnson’s holiday collaboration an 89%, marking a significant 56-point difference compared to the low Tomatometer rating of 43%.
In foreign countries, the film “Red One” continued its second weekend in cinemas, earning an extra $50 million internationally. This brings the worldwide total for Evans and Johnson’s on-screen partnership to $84 million. However, even though “Red One” is expected to thrive on streaming platforms as predicted by Amazon, there’s still a significant distance it needs to cover in order to repay its production cost of $250 million (not including marketing and advertising expenses).
The Box Office Blues Will Soon End
It’s great that Red One showed up over the weekend, as it boosted the overall earnings and prevented another disappointing financial performance for fall 2024 at the box office. All films combined earned a total of $71.4 million domestically, but without the holiday film’s impressive $34.1 million, the cinema industry might have faced some tough times around mid-November. Interestingly, when compared to the collaboration between Evans and Johnson for Christmas, No. 2 Venom: The Last Dance only managed to pull in a modest $7.4 million.
Lionsgate’s “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” earned the third spot ($5.4 million), followed closely by Hugh Grant’s “Heretic” at number four ($5.2 million). Universal’s “The Wild Robot” completed the Top 5 with $4.3 million. Besides “Red One,” only one other new release made it into the Top 10 – “Hello, Love, Again.” Directed by Cathy Garcia-Sampana, this romantic drama captured the No. 8 spot with an impressive $2.4 million, and has been highly praised on Rotten Tomatoes with a 96% audience rating (Popcornmeter).
As a follower, I’m excited to share that our recent release, All We Imagine as Light, made its debut in a limited run at only three venues. Yet, it managed to claim the weekend’s highest per-theater average with an impressive $17,000. Apart from the exception of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and Venom 3, this fall movie season has been relatively quiet financially. But the good news is that the box office is about to pick up, just in time for the Thanksgiving rush!
The eagerly anticipated screen versions of the Broadway sensation “Wicked” and the sequel to the original “Gladiator”, titled “Gladiator II”, are expected to generate substantial profits at the cinema, with “Wicked” projected to earn more than $80 million and its competitor, “Gladiator II”, forecasted to make around $65 million. Remarkably, director Ridley Scott’s sequel to “Gladiator” has already raked in $87 million during its international premiere. Interestingly, both potential blockbusters are set to be released on November 22, but the most anticipated family film of the season, “Moana 2”, will follow a week later on Wednesday, November 27. This animated sequel is estimated to earn over $100 million domestically during the extended holiday weekend.
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2024-11-18 02:33