R-Rated Action Horror Movie With 0% RT Score Debuts With Record Box Office Low

Published Nov 2, 2026, 10:09 AM EST

Brennan Klein (he/him) is a senior news writer at Screen Rant, host of the Attack of the Queerwolf podcast, and contributor at Alternate Ending and Horror Press. He has been writing and podcasting about pop culture (especially horror movies) for over a decade at platforms including Blumhouse, Fangoria, Dread Central, The Backlot, and Arrow in the Head.

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Christmas at the Kringles did not have a holly jolly Halloween.

The new action horror comedy movie, which debuted on October 30, follows a suburban family that moves into a new home and finds that their neighbors are dangerously obsessed with Christmas. While the movie boasts a star-studded cast that includes comedy icons such as Thomas Lennon, Donald Faison, Rob Riggle, David Wain, and Beverly D'Angelo, critics' Christmas at the Kringles reviews were overwhelmingly negative, earning it a rare 0% score on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing. Verified audience members have given it a better, though still underwhelming, score of 40% on the same platform's Popcornmeter.

Per Box Office Mojo, Christmas at the Kringles earned a 3-day total of $675,000 in 1,825 at the domestic box office over the course of its opening weekend. This sees the movie earning a per-screen average of $369, which marks the 132nd lowest debut per-screen average of all time at the domestic box office. On top of that, it breaks the record for a 2026 horror movie that opened on more than 1,000 screens.

The only 2026 horror movies below it on Box Office Mojo's chart of the Top 200 worst debut per-screen averages of all time are the Justin Long movie Night Patrol (which earned an average of $312 in 800 theaters) and the Dot-Marie Jones movie Breeder (which opened the same weekend as Christmas at the Kringles and earned an average of $271 in 777 theaters). In fact, among all 2026 new releases so far, Christmas at the Kringles earned the eighth-lowest debut per-screen average.

Below, see a breakdown of the 10 worst debut per-screen averages for 2026 new releases and where they currently stand on the Top 200 chart:

Rank	Title	Debut PSA
#17	The Stunt Driver	$127
#24	Charlie Harper	$169
#31	Buffalo Kids	$203
#70	Breeder	$271
#82	Infinite Icon: A Visual Memoir	$295
#91	Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass	$311
#92	Night Patrol	$312
#132	Christmas at the Kringles	$369
#139	The Influencer Project	$376
#149	Mystery Science Theater 3000: The RiffTrax Experiments: Sting of Death	$407

There are likely several reasons why both Christmas at the Kringles and Breeder closed out the 2026 October horror movie slate with a whimper. First of all, Halloween took place on a Saturday, which means that many potential ticket buyers were kept away from theaters by trick or treating and holiday parties. Meanwhile, the ones who did go were more drawn in by the DC Studios body horror movie Clayface (which hit No. 2 during its sophomore weekend) and the record-breaking Zach Cregger video game adaptation Resident Evil (which rose from No. 11 to No. 9 during its seventh weekend).

Additionally, horror movies typically have steep drops in the immediate aftermath of Halloween. While they do tend to pick up again by December, the end of the horror-inflected holiday typically coincides with a brief drop in interest in horror, which likely means that Sunday did not help either new release gain traction.

Scratch & Peek

Identify the cover art while scratching off as little foil as possible.

While that 0% Rotten Tomatoes score may have also damaged the prospects of Christmas at the Kringles (which debuted at No. 17 above Breeder at No. 23), Breeder has significantly better reviews that earned it an 87% score on Rotten Tomatoes that nevertheless did not prevent it from similarly underperforming. The budget for neither movie has been announced, but it seems likely that both will have to rely on video on demand and streaming revenue rather than box office grosses if they hope to break even.

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Cast

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  Ron Livingston

  Mark Severson

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  Julie Severson

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  Rob Riggle

  Drunk Santa

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  Arden Myrin

  Carol Kringle