David Harbour (“Stranger Things”) is Santa Claus in Tommy Wirkola‘s action-thriller Violent Night, which came down the chimney courtesy of Universal Pictures this past weekend. The film dishes out holiday beatings and has been embraced by critics and genre diehards alike for its punishing new take on Santa, a sort of unholy fusion of Bad Santa and Die Hard.
How well is Violent Night performing at the box office? The film opened in 3,682 theaters and stuffed $13.3 million into its sack across its opening weekend at the domestic box office.
Worldwide, Violent Night opened to a solid $20,355,000. The film’s reported production budget was $20 million, so Universal is hoping it has legs throughout the December holiday season.
Meagan writes in her review for BD, “Director Tommy Wirkola (Dead Snow) infuses his gore-soaked sense of humor into an amalgamation of familiar holiday fare, ushering a new crowd-pleasing Christmas-set actioner eager to splatter the snow red.”
Violent Night is being compared to Die Hard and centers on Harbour’s Santa Claus rescuing a family that’s been taken hostage, with John Leguizamo playing the villain.
In the film, “A team of elite mercenaries breaks into a wealthy family compound on Christmas Eve, taking everyone inside hostage. But the team isn’t prepared for a surprise combatant: Santa Claus (Harbour) is on the grounds, and he’s about to show why this Nick is no saint.”
Beverly D’Angelo (Christmas Vacation), Alex Haskell and Alexis Louder are also in the upcoming Focus Features movie, starring alongside Edi Patterson and Cam Gigandet.
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