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

"This is a soft opening for a movie that was 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 now 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 end up giving a surprising performance in a small town's Christmas show.

A24's horror movie "Heretic," which has 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."

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)

A.AlHaj--SF-PST