Yes, Red One did only make $34 million on a $250 million budget on its opening weekend, but for Amazon, that doesn't actually matter

Red One hasn't exactly done amazing at the box office considering its massive budget, but that isn't a concern for Amazon thanks to Prime Video.

As reported by Variety, Red One's opening weekend brought in $34 million domestically in its opening weekend, a paltry amount compared to its $250 million, having now grossed around $84 million internationally, which still isn't enough obviously. David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research, says that "the production cost was an estimated $250 million. That’s a lot of money for a Santa Claus story. The opening is not a disaster, but it’s not enough against $250 million before marketing and distribution. A film like this should not have been made for more than $150 million."

Amazon too is apparently waiting to see how things play out, with Amazon MGM's head of theatrical distribution Kevin Wilson said, "We have to see how this plays into the holidays. We have big competition coming behind us… that’s no secret," referring to big titles like Wicked, Gladiator 2, and Moana 2. "But we offer something a little different than those movies." That something different? Prime Video. It's seemingly Amazon's belief that even if the film doesn't do amazingly at the box office, it's still a good way for it to get people talking about it ahead of a Prime Video release.

"Whether or not people like it, the value of these movies is different for our business model," Wilson adds. "If we can put these movies out theatrically and cover our P&A [print and advertising] costs, why wouldn’t we? We’re getting a massive marketing campaign that’s being paid for before the film gets to streaming."

We still don't get concrete numbers for streaming shows and films, so unless as Variety notes Red One gets a sequel of some kind, it's probably going to be impossible to tell if pumping this much money into a film only for it to fail at the box office was actually worth it or not.

Red One doesn't have a streaming release date just yet, so you'll just have to hold off if you're one of the many people out there that really aren't fussed about catching it in cinemas.