Despite only releasing yesterday, it’s already looking as though R-rated festive actioner Violent Night will perform above expectations at the box office to snag an opening weekend somewhere in the $12 million range.
While that doesn’t sound so impressive on paper, let’s not forget that director Tommy Wirkola’s bruising festive caper only cost a thrifty $20 million to produce, so it could end up turning a profit in a couple of weeks should international audiences prove as receptive as their domestic counterparts to watching David Harbour’s Santa Claus kick serious amounts of ass.
Production company 87North are behind Violent Night, and it sounds as if the team have plans in mind for a franchise. In an interview with Collider, producer Kelly McCormick confirmed that she’s love to see Harbour’s jolly old Saint Nick join Bob Odenkirk’s Nobody hero Hutch in getting the sequel treatment.
“We’re working on a lot of originals right now. We are also working on a Nobody 2. We’re hoping to start working on a Violent Night 2, if everything goes well the next few weeks. We have a tendency to just keep our heads down and focus on what’s in front of us, or near. So yeah, that’s kind of it. We’re in it. We still have two and a half months of work to do on this one.”
Harbour has already put forward the greatest idea of all-time for a sequel as it is after the actor revealed to the world that he wanted to see Pedro Pascal and Oscar Isaac get on board as the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy to kick-start a cinematic universe of “sexy daddies.” The ball is in your court, paying theatrical patrons, so make sure you check out Violent Night – which delivers exactly what you wanted to see.
