Although 2024 has been a fairly extraordinary year for cinema, that doesn't mean that there were not a few high-profile disappointments. While Sony's Marvel films Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter have perhaps become too easy to criticize at this point, Amazon Studios' holiday comedy Red One may be the most cynical, lifeless holiday comedy since the days of Christmas With the Kranks and Fred Claus. Despite the nearly unanimous disdain for the latest film from director Jake Kasdan, Red One was a streaming smash hit on Prime Video, despite its rather underwhelming run at the box office.

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Despite the many reports that indicated that the film went through a challenging production process due to erratic behavior on the part of its star, Red One has a fairly straightforward premise. The film centers on the North Paul Security head Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson), who recruits the street-wise tracker Connor O'Malley (Chris Evans) to help him when Santa Claus (J.K. Simmons) is kidnapped only days before he is set to deliver presents to children all over the world on Christmas Eve. The issues with Red One come down to its tone; despite having a very silly story that is aimed at small children, it also contains enough PG-13 action that feels intended for an audience who enjoys the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Although Red One certainly is not going to be winning any Academy Awards, Amazon Studios has learned that theatrical distribution only helps a film's future debut on streaming.

✕ Remove Ads 'Red One' Wasn't Hurt by Its Theatrical Release

Amazon Studios, which also releases titles from MGM, has a very interesting strategy when it comes to their theatrically released titles. Due to contracts signed during the initial MGM deal, many MGM films such as Challengers and Nickel Boys were given robust theatrical releases before they were made available on streaming. Comparatively, the original titles that came directly from Amazon Studios tended to avoid theaters all together, even though films like the romantic comedy The Idea of You or the action thriller Road House had the possibility to be decently sized hits. Amazon made the decision to put Red One in theaters, despite the fact that it had been initially developed to go straight to Prime Video. Although it boasted a budget of $250 million, it is hard to classify Red One as a box office bomb, as it was intended to make a majority of its profits on streaming.

✕ Remove Ads Related 'Red One' Unwraps Last Global Box Office Achievement After Streaming Debut

Produced on a reported budget of $250 million, 'Red One' stars Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans.

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Even if it never ended up becoming a massive breakout at the box office, Red One was able to support theaters during a gap in the calendar year before the ending of November. Although the Thanksgiving holiday brought forth two box office juggernauts in the form of Wicked: Part I and Moana 2, the early weeks of the month had been relatively light in terms of films intended for a family audience, as The Wild Robot from September had already been available on VOD. Red One was able to keep theaters running for a brief period, which suggests that Amazon Studios is interested in forming a positive relationship with theater-owners. This will certainly be beneficial when Amazon Studios rolls out its next major theatrical title, such as the upcoming James Bond film that will feature Daniel Craig's replacement.

✕ Remove Ads 'Red One' Became a Streaming Sensation Close

It is no surprise that Red One is a hit on streaming, as audiences have become well aware of the film based on the marketing campaign that had been going on for the last few months to promote its theatrical release. Had Red One avoided theaters entirely, it may have been more challenging to build up organic buzz, as Prime Video does not usually produce massive streaming hits in the same way that Netflix and Disney+ do. Interestingly enough, Red One still maintained a decent hold at the box office in the past weekend, indicating that there were still audiences interested in seeing the film when it was available online. This has been a recurring trend that has been seen throughout the year; films like The Wild Robot and The Fall Guy managed to stick around in the top ten of the domestic weekend grosses, even once they were already available to purchase on VOD services.

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It has been proven that films that are released in theaters tend to do well on streaming, regardless of how they perform at the box office. There are few examples this year that are better than Argylle, the critically derided spy thriller from director Matthew Vaughn. Despite bombing at the box office, Argylle managed to become one of the most watched titles in the history of the service. Unfortunately, Apple TV has appeared to abandon this strategy all-together; following the financial disappointments of films like Napoleon and Fly Me To The Moon, the studio has pivoted to only releasing their films in select theaters a week before their streaming debut. This ended up leading to the cancelation of the sequel to Wolfs, as director Jon Watts felt that he could no longer trust Apple TV to fulfill their end of the contract.

Amazon Should Continue Utilizing the 'Red One' Strategy ✕ Remove Ads

Red One has proven that theaters and streaming can co-exist, and in many ways depend on each other to succeed. A streamer may never know when one of their "streaming exclusive" titles could end up being a breakout hit; Amazon Studios learned this lesson last year, in which the sports drama The Boys in the Boat became a surprising breakout hit, despite being intended to go directly to the service.

Amazon's success should hopefully inspire other studios to follow suit when deciding on how to conduct their distribution plans. Although Netflix has been fairly unwilling to put their non-awards films in theaters, it is likely that upcoming titles like Wake Up, Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery and Greta Gerwig's Narnia reboot could perform pretty well if the Amazon strategy was replicated.

Red One is streaming on Prime Video in the United States.

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510 Red One PG-13ActionAdventureComedyFantasy

After Santa Claus is kidnapped, the North Pole's Head of Security and a notorious bounty hunter embark on a globe-spanning mission to rescue him. This action-packed adventure unfolds as they navigate various challenges to safeguard Christmas, emphasizing teamwork and determination against a backdrop of festive intrigue.

Release Date November 15, 2024 Director Jake Kasdan Cast Dwayne Johnson , Chris Evans , J.K. Simmons , Lucy Liu , Kiernan Shipka , Bonnie Hunt , Kristofer Hivju , Nick Kroll , Wesley Kimmel , Mary Elizabeth Ellis , Wyatt Hunt , Lanz Duffy , Marc Evan Jackson , Ashleigh Domangue , Cody Easterbrook , Jon Rudnitsky , Morla Gorrondona , Jenna Kanell , Rod Maxwell , Fedor Steer , Octavia Grace , Matthew Zuk , Cora Kass , Ahmad Ghafouri , Jeff Chase Runtime 123 Minutes Main Genre Action Expand ✕ Remove Ads