Hollywood action blockbuster with $250,000,000 budget flops on opening weekend

One of the biggest Christmas films of the year has been gifted lumps of coal, after making just $34,000,000 on the opening weekend, it has been claimed.

Red One was released in cinemas last week, following Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Chris Evans teaming up to save Santa Claus from kidnappers.

On the surface, that sounds like a guaranteed festive hit with two of the biggest A-Listers around, and it climbed the domestic box office, replacing Venom: The Last Dance at the top spot.

However, according to Deadline, it took in around $34million across the weekend, which is just a fraction of the mammoth $250million budget.

The outlet reports that, while it has faired lower than other projects Dwayne has fronted in recent years, it is still performing better than others made by a streaming platform – and that Amazon won’t be ‘rocked’ in the same way a traditional studio would be by a loss.

As well as a poor box office showing, Red One has been torn apart by scathing reviews and currently has a dismal 33% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, which is completely at odds with the audience rating of 90%.

Red One was released in cinemas last week (Picture: Amazon MGM Studios)

Wendy Ide from the Observer slated: ‘As synthetically festive as an eggnog-flavoured plug-in air freshener, Red One is a cynical, soulless action-adventure.’

The Times’ Kevin Maher slammed it as ‘gross, grim yuletide yuck’.

Hallmarkies Podcast’s Rachel Wagner said: ‘Makes the worst sin of all. It’s boring. I couldn’t wait for it to be over.’

The star-studded film has been torn apart (Picture: Amazon MGM Studios)

While NYC Movie Guru Avi Offer fumed: ‘Painfully unfunny, witless, over-produced and tonally uneven mess with an uninspired and convoluted plot that’s too silly for adults and too dull for kids.

‘It’s one of the worst Christmas movies since Jingle All the Way.’

Side note: Jingle All The Way is a Christmas classic and we won’t hear a word against it.

Fans on social media have questioned whether Dwayne could make a surprise return to WWE after the less than stellar reaction, pleading for a return to the ring for the Rock.

Red One is in cinemas now (Picture: Amazon MGM Studios)

The official synopsis reads: ‘After Santa Claus – Code Name: RED ONE – is kidnapped, the North Pole’s Head of Security (Dwayne Johnson) must team up with the world’s most infamous bounty hunter (Chris Evans) in a globe-trotting, action-packed mission to save Christmas.’

Alongside Dwayne and Chris, JK Simmons, Lucy Liu and Kiernan Shipka make up the star-studded cast, while Jake Kasdan served as director.

‘I believe that he’s a singular film presence,’ the filmmaker told Entertainment Weekly of working with the WWE icon.

Critics were scathing in their reviews (Picture: PA)

‘And if it’s the exact right thing for him, then he’s able to do things that really nobody else can do, and you can’t picture anyone else in a part that he’s played.’

Lifting the lid on how they sprinkled tense action scenes with some festive cheer, he added: ‘A big part of it was trying to figure out how to bring in all of those Christmas elements, even in this slightly edgier, more aggressive kind of action-comedy and let them resonate on their own.’

Red One is in cinemas now.

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