How Red One went from box office flop to streaming success

The new movie Red One may have just pulled off a Christmas miracle.

The festive action comedy starring Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans flopped at the box office, earning $175 million worldwide as of last week, compared to its production budget of $200 million. 

Since debuting on the streaming platform Amazon Prime Video, however, the film has pulled in a record-breaking 50 million viewers.

Today on Commotion, entertainment reporter Teri Hart joins guest host Ali Hassan to explain what's behind this audience split — and which holiday movies she thinks are even better.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.

Ali: For anyone who has not seen it, what is Red One about?

Teri: Buckle up for this plot. Santa gets kidnapped on Christmas Eve eve, and his head of E.L.F. — which is an acronym for "Enforcements, Logistics and Fortification" — played by Dwayne the Rock Johnson, has to find Santa with the help of a hacker who also, of course, happens to be kind of a deadbeat dad. So, Christmas has to be saved. The Rock needs to believe again and still want to be the head of E.L.F. And Chris Evans needs to redeem himself as a father. Those are the three plot points.

Ali: How did you like it, Teri? 

Teri: I did not like the movie. This is a movie that brings out — and this doesn't come out in me very often because it's not my natural way — but this brings out the cynic in me. This is a movie that seems to be made for every other reason other than to make a good movie. It's made to become an amusement park ride. It's made for showing off special effects. It's made for every other reason other than the script. The North Pole looks like a video game. 

One of the things that was most egregious to me is that it is rated PG-13, and it says there's some language in it, but all language isn't created the same or the most problematic. The language in this movie is using swear words and calling people names, which I think if I'm a parent, I really want to be warned about that and I don't want my kids seeing that. So I found that was really problematic. It's like everything they do in the movie is just imagining that they're going to be cooler than the Christmas movies that are popular, than the Christmas movies we return to time and time again. The story's also incredibly complicated. I mentioned the A and B stories, but there's a story about a witch named Gryla, and Santa's brother Krampus. I mean, it goes on and on and on. So I don't know who the movie is made for. How many kids can sit through this and actually filter through all these storylines?

Ali: Red One did not get great reviews when it opened. It was a flop in theatres. Then it breaks streaming records on Amazon Prime when it lands there, 50 million views and climbing. What explains that?

Teri: A couple of things. It was released theatrically, like, Nov. 15, so it was released before American Thanksgiving, before we saw some big other movies in theatres — most notably Wicked and Gladiator. And so all of that marketing money that went towards its theatrical release built up an awareness for Red One that I don't think happens for movies that they just drop onto a streaming service. 

And then, I can't quantify this or qualify it, Ali, but my thought is that movies that are released theatrically kind of have a wrap around them of quality. Like, if it goes to a movie theatre first, it is a movie movie. It wasn't made for streaming. It was made for theatrical release. And so I think that people have that perception of it. It's also got the big stars that you mentioned: The Rock, Chris Evans, Lucy Liu, J.K. Simmons. And let's face it: people are desperate for movies that they can watch at this time of year with the entire family. Red One seems to be filling that void this year. Unfortunately, it's not very good.

Ali: Red One is being called an instant holiday classic. I'm sure you're not happy with that. Tell me what Christmas movies you would recommend in place of Red One?

Teri: Well, I'll tell you one that was made not that long ago and legitimately became an instant classic was Elf. Elf is only 21 years old. I actually did the press junket for it when it was released theatrically, and you really did walk out of that movie saying "instant classic" because it has all the heartwarming feels, it kind of went back to how they used to do special effects in camera, everything going for Elf.

The original animated Grinch gets me every time. A Charlie Brown Christmas gets me every time. If you're looking for something more adult after the kids have gone to bed, or maybe you don't have kids in your life, The Holdovers is a great Christmas movie to watch as adults. And you know what else I really loved? Obviously, I'm in my Will Ferrell era, but Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds in Spirited, a musical that is super, super fun. If you haven't watched it, maybe it's because you don't think you like musicals. Give it a try.

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview with Teri Hart produced by Kaitlin King.