Amazon MGM’s Red One seems primed to live in the red after the $250 million film opened to $34.1 million this weekend, a dismal showing during a quiet theatrical weekend. The film, starring Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans on a quest to rescue a kidnapped Santa Claus, also had a hefty $100 million marketing budget, according to Variety, making any quest toward a profit more a stroll than a sprint. The film still earned millions more than Venom: The Last Dance, which raked in $7.3 million in its third weekend. Theatrical showcases have been few and far between throughout the fall as exhibitioners gear up for the late-autumn tentpoles in Wicked, Gladiator II, and Moana 2, all of which open before the Thanksgiving holiday. “The one-two punch of ‘Wicked’ and ‘Gladiator II’ are poised to deliver, along with “Moana 2,” one of the biggest Thanksgiving periods in box office history,” senior Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian told Variety. “And it can’t get here soon enough.”
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