'Red One' tops N. America box office but could end up in the red

Amazon and MGM's new winter holiday film, "Red One," opened solidly atop the North American box office this weekend with estimated ticket sales of $34.1 million. However, with a budget estimated at $250 million, analysts say it faces a tricky path to profitability.

"This is a soft opening for a movie designed from the beginning to launch a new Christmas action-comedy series," said analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.

He said the film was a crowd-pleaser but that its $250 million budget -- including a reported $50 million cost overrun -- meant its opening was "not a disaster but ... not enough" to ensure profitability.

The Christmas comedy has Dwayne ("the Rock") Johnson, as head of North Pole security, enlisting the help of a hacker (Chris Evans) to track down a kidnapped Santa Claus (played by the not-exactly-jolly J.K. Simmons) on Christmas Eve.

"Red One" unseated Sony's horror movie "Venom: the Last Dance," which slipped to second, taking in an estimated $7.4 million in its fourth weekend out.

"Venom," starring Tom Hardy, has earned $127.6 million domestically and $308 million internationally.

In third place was Lionsgate's comedy-drama "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever," at $5.4 million. Pete Holmes stars in the tale of a notoriously rowdy bunch of siblings who give a surprising performance in a small town's Christmas show.

A24's horror movie "Heretic", which features famous charmer Hugh Grant turning decidedly fiendish, dropped one spot from last weekend to fourth, with ticket sales of $5.2 million.

Slipping to fifth but still raking in $4.3 million in its eighth weekend out was Universal's family-friendly animation "The Wild Robot."

Wild Robot posterIMDb

Rounding out the top 10 were:

"Smile 2" ($3 million)

"Conclave" ($2.9 million)

"Hello, Love Again" ($2.4 million)

"A Real Pain" ($2.3 million)

"Anora" ($1.8 million)