With an opening-day revenue of $4.9 million from 3,682 locations, including $1.1 million from Thursday night previews, Tommy Wirkola’s film Violent Night led the Friday box office.
However, later on Saturday, Wirkola’s home invasion comedy-thriller will lose to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which took in $16 million (approximately) from 3,855 venues after earning $4.4 million on Friday. With a predicted $11.5 million to $12 million, Violent Night will come in second, off to a good start.
The genre movie, produced by Universal and 87North, features a group of mercenaries who, on Christmas Eve, steal into the affluent Lightstone family compound and take hostages. But Santa Claus (David Harbour), who disproves Nick’s holiness, comes as a surprise opponent, and they are unprepared.
Aside from John Leguizamo, who won an Emmy for his performance as Scrooge, the mercenaries’ leader, Violent Night has a decent B+ CinemaScore. There are also Beverly D’Angelo, Edi Patterson, Leah Brady, Cam Gigandet, Alex Hassell, Alexis Louder, and Cam Gigandet in the cast.
