‘Red One’ earns $3.7 million in Thursday previews

Halloween is over, so that means it’s time for the Christmas season (sorry, Thanksgiving) — and Dwayne Johnson is here to usher in the Christmas season early with “Red One.”

His Christmas action flick with Chris Evans has so far earned $3.7 million at the box office in its Thursday premiere. The Amazon MGM film is on track to earn between $30 million and $35 million, with some forecasting as low as $25 million and others as high as $40 million. With a massive budget of $250 million plus marketing costs, it will take a Christmas miracle for “Red One” to become a profitable hit at the box office. However, Amazon MGM is also focused on driving people to its Amazon Prime Video streaming service (where “Red One” will later land), so ticket sales aren’t as high on the deep-pocketed company’s wish list.

Johnson, who also produced “Red One” through his Seven Bucks production company, is teaming up with his “Jumanji” director Jake Kasdan for the Christmas action adventure. He plays Callum Drift, the head of Santa’s security force, who teams up with crooked bounty hunter Jack O’Malley (Evans) to track down St. Nick after he is kidnapped. Their chilly journey leads them to battle against creaky snowmen, Santa’s evil brother Krampus, the winter witch Gryla and more frigid enemies. The cast includes JK Simmons as Santa, Lucy Liu, Kiernan Shipka as Gryla, Kristofer Hivju as Krampus, Bonnie Hunt as Mrs. Claus and more.

As the only major new release this weekend, “Red One” will have no problem taking the box office crown from three-time winner “Venom: The Last Dance” and other holdovers like “Conclave,” “Heretic” and “The Best Christmas” Competition ever.”