Violent Night has made a surprise drop on digital platforms just ahead of Christmas on Sunday. The holiday action-comedy, which was helmed by Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters director Tommy Wirkola, stars Stranger Things and Black Widow‘s David Harbour as the real-life Santa Claus. His version of Santa is disaffected and less jolly than he has been portrayed in the past, which is bad news for a group of criminals led by Jimmy Martinez (John Leguizamo), who are committing a home invasion on a wealthy family that is interrupted by Santa’s arrival, whereupon he sets out to take down the gang at all costs.
Per ComicBook.com, digital platforms have received an unexpected Christmas present in the form of a surprise release of Violent Night. This digital release comes less than three weeks after the film’s December 2 theatrical premiere, allowing fans at home to experience the bloody cheer for themselves while gathering at home with their families. Currently, the film is being priced at the Premium VOD standard price of $19.99 for rentals and $24.99 for purchases on the platforms where it is available, which include Amazon, iTunes, and Vudu.
Why Violent Night Dropped On VOD While It’s Still Doing Well In Theaters
Violent Night has been enjoying a relatively robust box office run. Although it never hit #1 thanks to the continued box office domination of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, it has been performing consistently well over the past three weekends. Off a reasonably low budget of $20 million, it has already accrued $56 million worldwide, with another decent weekend projected ahead. While this isn’t necessarily an outstanding box office take, it has already spurred discussion of a potential sequel.
Despite being so early its theatrical run, there are several reasons why Universal may have decided to put the film out digitally so early. The first is the fact that Christmas is this Sunday – after this weekend, audience interest in Violent Night will most likely drop off significantly until next holiday season. Movies that are specifically about Christmas have the ability to become perennial favorites (such as Will Ferrell’s 2003 film Elf or more traditional classics including It’s a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street), but once the holiday has ended and New Year’s Eve approaches, audiences tend to be less in the mood for those particular titles. This is most likely a bid to get as many eyes on the film as possible before next year.
There is also another huge impediment to the future box office success of Violent Night: the December 16 release of the long-awaited James Cameron sequel Avatar: The Way of Water. While that film opened slightly below projections, it promises to have a slow and steady box office run that racks up a record-breaking take over the course of the next few weeks. It will most likely dominate theaters through the end of January at the very least, squeezing the David Harbour flick out of theaters as other new wide releases pop up to take its place in the meantime.
Source: ComicBook.com