Amazon-MGM is plotting its own tentpole franchise, with one of its biggest-ever theatrical films, Red One, due to hit theatres on November 15th, just in time for Christmas. With an estimated $250 million price tag, the studio will have to overcome bad buzz from behind the scenes for it to become the franchise it is no doubt hoping for. You can watch the new trailer in the embed above.

In it, Dwayne Johnson plays the North Pole’s Head of Security, who has to team with an infamous bounty hunter (Chris Evans) to save Santa Claus (J.K. Simmons), who’s been kidnapped by evil forces hoping to end Christmas. 

The fact that Red One is directed by Jake Kasdan, whose Jumanji movies were smash hits for Sony, points towards this potentially being a big success. However, Johnson’s track record at the box office has been mixed as of late, with Black Adam seen as a disappointment, although his Red Notice still ranks as Netflix’s most popular movie ever.

The new trailer definitely has a lot of action, with the bickering between the two stars very much in the Deadpool & Wolverine vein. People love a buddy comedy, and certainly, Johnson and Evans are popular, although mixing Christmas lore with Marvel-style action seems like an iffy prospect. The film certainly looks massive, with it getting an IMAX release, and seeming like it has fun mining Christmastime for action, with Kristofer Hivju of Game of Thrones playing Krampus, while Kiernan Shipka plays a monstrous entity from Icelandic folklore, Grýla. The movie also co-stars Lucy Liu, plus the great Bonnie Hunt as Mrs. Claus.

While the movie has a theatrical release date, one wonders whether it will have a quick turnaround to hit streaming by Christmastime. I suppose it depends on the grosses, although Johnson’s Moana 2, which comes out shortly after, seems like more of a sure thing at the box office.

Check out the new poster below and the new trailer above, then tell us how you think the film looks in the comments. 

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What better time to drop a Christmas-themed trailer than in the throughs of summer? Today, Amazon MGM Studios gave us the gift of the first Red One trailer, starring Dwayne Johnson (Moana, Jumanji franchise, Rampage) and Chris Evans (Knives Out, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Losers) as an odd couple of badasses joining forces to rescue Santa Claus (J.K. Simmons).

The Red One trailer is jam-packed with Christmas-time goodness. Everything from Krampus to mutant killer snowmen makes life difficult for Johnson and Evans as they race against time to locate and rescue Old St Nick. The preview features creative spins on Christmas staples and some Christmas magic. Johnson’s character uses an enchanted gauntlet to transform toys into weapons against anyone standing in the way of Santa coming home for Christmas.

Here’s the official plot synopsis courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios:

After Santa Claus – Code Name: RED ONE – is kidnapped, the North Pole’s Head of Security (Dwayne Johnson) must team up with the world’s most infamous bounty hunter (Chris Evans) in a globe-trotting, action-packed mission to save Christmas.

Jake Kasdan (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Bad Teacher, Sex Tape) directs Red One based on a story from Hiram Garcia. Chris Morgan wrote the screenplay. Lucy Liu, Kiernan Shipka, Bonnie Hunt, Kristofer Hivju, Nick Kroll, and Wesley Kimmel join Johnson, Evans, and Simmons as primary cast members.

While today’s Red One trailer presents the film as a holly, jolly holiday romp with Johnson’s ceaseless charisma and Evans’s dry wit fueling the yule log fire, a concerning story about Johnson’s professionalism looms over the movie like Krampus stalking naughty children on Christmas Eve. According to a bombshell report, Johnson was frequently late to the set during production, resulting in late starts, fractured schedules, and millions in additional expenditures. “The only thing Dwayne was consistent at was being chronically late,” said one insider. The report states that Johnson was late, on average, seven to eight hours per day and even missed several days. According to the insiders quoted in the report, this cost the production at least $50 million. “It was a f***ing disaster,” the insider said. “Dwayne truly doesn’t give a f***.” However, other sources say that Johnson was never more than an hour late to set up, and a spokesperson for Amazon MGM flat-out denied any issues.

While the reports are concerning, that hasn’t stopped the team from assembling what looks like a thrilling, creative, and hilarious Christmas film. I had no idea what to expect from today’s Red One trailer and was pleasantly surprised by the preview. I’ve been a fan of killer mutant snowmen since my Calvin and Hobbes days. Bring it on!

Amazon MGM Studios will release Red One theatrically in the US on November 15, 2024, and worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures internationally this November.

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Dwayne Johnson has taken to his social media in a fun way to tease the release of the trailer for Red One, as well as reveal the teaser poster. While Johnson heals from the injuries he sustains from his upcoming A24 film The Smashing Machine, he posts an all-points bulletin, or rather an all-points alert, that calls for the help of finding Santa Claus, played in the film by J.K. Simmons. Johnson then punctuates the message with a teaser poster and an announcement that the trailer will premiere online tomorrow. In the APB, Johnson points to those who may know of Santa’s whereabouts to call the number on the bottom of the poster.

Johnson’s message reads,
“!!MISSING: SANTA CLAUS [CODE NAME: RED ONE]!!

All points alert to everyone around the world— be on the lookout for this man.

Last seen at the North Pole. If you have any information, please reach out to the E.L.F. North Pole Command Center via the number on the bottom of this official RED ONE poster. WE NEED YOUR HELP. Christmas depends on it.

And Nick, buddy, if you’re reading this— I will find you.  

~ Callum Drift, Commander of The E.L.F. REWARD: Our official @RedOneMov trailer drops in 24 hours!”

The press tour for the film will be a difficult one with a bombshell report looming over the production, which claimed that Johnson exhibited unprofessional behavior by chronically showing up late to set. “The only thing Dwayne was consistent at was being chronically late,” said one insider. The report states that Johnson was late on average of seven to eight hours per day and even missed several entire days. According to the insiders quoted in the report, this cost the production at least $50 million. “It was a f***ing disaster,” the insider said. “Dwayne truly doesn’t give a f***.” However, other sources say that Johnson was never more than an hour late to set and a spokesperson for Amazon MGM flat-out denied any issues.

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It was recently revealed in a bombshell report that Dwayne Johnson has been allegedly showcasing unprofessional behavior by being excessively late to film productions. The article from The Wrap has made claims that Johnson would show up as late as eight hours while filming his most recent project, the Christmas-themed Red One. This tardiness issue reportedly contributed to the budget as it spiraled to over $250 million. According to the insiders quoted in the report, this cost the production at least $50 million. “It was a f***ing disaster,” the insider said. “Dwayne truly doesn’t give a f***.” However, other sources say that Johnson was never more than an hour late to set and a spokesperson for Amazon MGM flat-out denied any issues.

This production was not an isolated incident, it seems. According to the report from The Wrap, Johnson exhibited more of this behavior on the Netflix action comedy, Red Notice. In the fall of 2020, when the film was in principal photography, his co-star, Ryan Reynolds, had gotten incredibly infuriated with him after he had waited five hours for Johnson to show up. Insiders say when Johnson finally reached the set long after calltime, the two had a “huge fight,” and Johnson stormed off the set. The co-stars wouldn’t speak to each other for years until they recently buried the hatchet. However, a sequel was greenlit by Netflix and no movement on it has yet been made. Netflix responded with a rep stating, “Dwayne is the consummate professional and we’re thrilled to have worked with him on Red Notice, our #1 film.”

Other crew members on the film claimed that while the production set strict protocols for COVID, Johnson would break the quarantine rules and fly home in a private jet. An insider says, “He was frequently flying home and breaking the extremely strict rules of the bubble.” Johnson, who consistently updates fans on his social media, made a post on Instagram about his intense 14-hour workday, which he then deleted. However, the IATSE Stories Instagram account reposted it, calling him out with a crew member commenting, “He got to host family and friends for a BBQ, and wound up getting COVID anyway. Most selfish thing I’ve ever seen an actor do.” Although, another source close to the production would defend the Black Adam star, saying, “Nothing he did was in violation of COVID protocols.”

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Dwayne Johnson is typically seen as an extremely hard-working dude who juggles a variety of projects ranging from movies, TV shows, the WWE, and even his own brand of tequila, but a new report alleges that the actor’s work ethic actually leaves something to be desired.

According to an extensive report by The Wrap, Dwayne Johnson suffers from “chronic lateness,” allegedly showing up to set as much as eight hours late. This behaviour reportedly contributed to the budget of Red One, his upcoming Christmas movie for Amazon MGM, spiralling over $250 million. Yikes.

“The only thing Dwayne was consistent at was being chronically late,” said one insider. The report states that Johnson was late on average of seven to eight hours per day and even missed several entire days. According to the insiders quoted in the report, this cost the production at least $50 million. “It was a f***ing disaster,” the insider said. “Dwayne truly doesn’t give a f***.” However, other sources say that Johnson was never more than an hour late to set and a spokesperson for Amazon MGM flat out denied any issues.

“Dwayne Johnson and Seven Bucks have been incredible partners on ‘Red One’—a film that audiences of all ages are going to love this holiday season,” the spokesperson said. “Our testing has been very strong — the reaction from CinemaCon speaks for itself — and we couldn’t have made it without Dwayne’s constant work and support. Any reporting that implies that we got to this point with him showing up seven-eight hours late to set is both ridiculous and false.“

Johnson’s issue with tardiness aren’t just confined to Red One, as other sources say he exhibited similar behaviour on other projects, including Ballers. A former production assistant on the HBO series said Johnson was “regularly three to four hours late to set. Keeping 100+ crew members waiting for no reason.” One of Johnson’s co-stars on Rampage even kept a record of when Dwayne would show up on set, which was reportedly an average of four to five hours late daily. As for the reason why, one studio insider said it stems from “his absolute refusal to work more than a four-or-five hour day,” with another suggesting, “It’s a control thing.“

The chronic lateness contributed to fights with costars, including Vin Diesel on the Fast & Furious movies and Ryan Reynolds on Red Notice. The report added that Johnson and Reynolds had a “huge fight” on set after Reynolds was fed up with Johnson’s tardiness, but that the pair later patched things up.

In addition to the chronic lateness, the report also claims that Johnson has another habit on set — peeing in water bottles. “On set, away from his trailer, if he needs to pee, he doesn’t go to the public bathroom,” one insider said. “He pees in a Voss water bottle and his team or a PA has to dispose of it.” This is something the actor has previously admitted to during his workouts in order to save time, but another insider claimed that Johnson would never ask a production assistant or anyone else to dispose of his pee bottles.

What do you make of this? Does Dwayne Johnson strike you as someone who would show up eight hours late?

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CinemaCon is in full swing. Studios are unveiling some new exclusive pictures and information at upcoming projects. We’ve gotten first looks at movies like Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and trailers for Trap and The Joker: Folie à Deux. Some promotional materials have shown a look at Gladiator II and Wolverine’s new mask for Deadpool & Wolverine. Recently, Amazon MGM has revealed some new footage of the upcoming Christmas comedy Red One, which stars Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans and J.K. Simmons.

Deadline reports on the ten minutes that Amazon has screened for the CinemaCon audience. First off, while this is a movie that has been set for Prime Video, the footage is said to be very theatrical and it is revealed that Red One will indeed be hitting theaters on November 15. Not much can be said by way of details as those who saw the footage are instructed to keep their lips sealed. However, the publication does say that “Red One is a fire-breathing Christmas action movie that completely reinvents the holiday genre. […] Red One is a really fun original action film for both Johnson and Evans, and it’s a world building piece of IP which lends itself to potential sequels set around different holidays.”

Additionally, while Amazon MGM was on the dock, they would run down the list of upcoming titles on the studio’s slate. The company has confirmed that many of their titles would be getting theatrical releases. “In total, 11 big screen titles are planned into 2026 with more to-be-announced.” Some of the other films announced are:

The Nickel Boys – A movie from Brad Pitt’s Plan B production company that will hit theaters this year. The movie is based on Colson Whitehead‘s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and starring Oscar nom Aunjanue Ellis (King Richard).

Crime 101 – A film directed by Bart Layton based on the Don Winslow novella, which is set to be released in 2025.

After the Hunt – A new film from Challengers director Luca Guadagnino. Julia Roberts stars in the film which is produced by Imagine Entertainment’s Brian Grazer and Allan Mandelbaum and Guadagnino’s Frenesy banner. The movie is an intense dramatic thriller about a college professor (Roberts) who finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads when a star pupil levels an accusation against one of her colleagues and a dark secret from her own past threatens to come to light. 

Project Hail Mary – A Ryan Gosling astronaut movie set for 2026 in which he also produces. The film is written by Drew Goddard and will be directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. In addition to Gosling, producers on the project include Lord, Miller, Aditya Sood, Amy Pascal, Rachel O’Connor, and Andy Weir.

These upcoming releases will join Amazon MGM’s other titles, including Challengers (April 26), My Old Ass (Aug 2), The Fire Inside (Aug 9), Blink Twice (Aug 23), Levon’s Trade (Jan. 17, 2025), and Mercy (Aug. 15, 2025). 

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Next year’s holiday season is already looking merry and bright at the box office as Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans’ holiday action comedy, Red One, plans on riding a sleigh into theaters. The Amazon MGM and Seven Bucks Christmas film is still spreading holiday cheer on Prime Video, but the project’s global theatrical debut happens on November 15, 2024.

Red One’s move to theaters is a strategy to take advantage of the holiday box office rush. Families love to bundle up the family for a trip to cinemas, and that Thanksgiving window is almost as tasty as a lovingly cooked butterball turkey. Other films will premiere in theaters around the holidays, but so far, Robert De Niro’s mobster film Alto Knights and Lionsgate and Kingdom Story’s The Best Christmas Pageant Ever occupy the holiday stretch.

In addition to Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans, Red One also stars a shredded J.K. Simmons, Kiernan Shipka, Lucy Liu, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Nick Kroll, Kristofer Hibvju, and Bonnie Hunt. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle director Jake Kasdan is helming Red One from a script by Chris Morgan based on an original story from Hiram Garcia. The film has previously been described as “a globe-trotting, four-quadrant action-adventure comedy, imagining a whole new universe to explore within the holiday genre.”

“Our movie is a big, fun, action-packed, and fresh new take on Christmas,” Dwayne Johnson said about Red One on his Instagram account. “Think JUMANJI meets MIRACLE ON 34TH ST meets HOBBS & SHAW with a dash of HARRY POTTER and sprinkled on top with my all-time favorite Christmas movie, ITS A WONDERFUL LIFE…”

Red One presents audiences with a different type of Santa Claus. Typically, we think of Santa as a holly, jolly elf who gorges on milk and cookies. That could be true for most films, but not Red One. In Kasdan’s forthcoming film, J.K. Simmons’ St. Nick is ripped! Johnson boasted about Simmons’ physique on Instagram.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Dwayne Johnson (@therock)

“Ladies, gentlemen & children of all ages.. the coolest, strongest, kindest, most bad ass, most loving & most OG Santa Claus of all time,” Dwayne Johnson wrote in the caption. “Brought to life by Academy Award winner, J.K. Simmons who worked his ass off for months to step into this iconic role in AMAZING SHAPE for our Christmas franchise film, RED ONE. We’re having a BLAST and so will you and your families when you see our movie!!”

Are you excited about Red One getting a theatrical release before sliding down the digital chimney and onto Prime Video? Let us know in the comments section below.

The post Red One: Chris Evans and Dwayne Johnson’s holiday action comedy to bring cheer to theaters next year appeared first on JoBlo.

Chris Evans was last seen starring alongside Ana de Armas in Ghosted, a romantic action adventure comedy that debuted on Apple TV+ earlier this year. While Ghosted was Apple’s most-watched movie debut at the time, the reviews weren’t exactly kind and Chris Evans admitted to GQ that the film “could have been better.“

Chris Evans told GQ that he signed on to Ghosted because it “felt like a movie that I grew up on, a movie that maybe we don’t see very much anymore. And the question is whether or not audiences have outgrown those types of films.” When asked if he had that question going into the project or coming out of it, Evans said, “Both. I didn’t think audiences had outgrown it prior, and I still don’t think they have, despite the fact, I mean, technically I think we did okay on, in terms of viewership. Critics didn’t like it. But that’s more the fault of the movie as opposed to the appetite of the audience. I think the appetite’s there, if it’s done properly. We could have been better.“

Ghosted follows salt-of-the-earth Cole (Chris Evans) as he falls head over heels for enigmatic Sadie (Ana de Armas) — but then makes the shocking discovery that she’s a secret agent. Before they can decide on a second date, Cole and Sadie are swept away on an international adventure to save the world.

Our own Alex Maidy didn’t mind Ghosted, calling it “a fun yet predictable action movie with solid stuntwork and great cameos that plays with the conventions of romantic comedies while flipping the cliches of the spy genre on its head” in his review.

Chris Evans will next be seen starring alongside Emily Blunt in Pain Hustlers. The film centers on high school dropout Liza Drake, who lands a job with a failing pharmaceutical start-up in a strip mall in Central Florida but soon finds herself at the center of a criminal conspiracy with deadly consequences. The crime drama recently debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival and you can check out a review from our own Chris Bumbray right here.

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When it was first announced that Dwayne Johnson would be starring in a Christmas action movie, some believed that the actor might be playing the one and only Santa Claus, but that wasn’t the case. It was later revealed that J.K. Simmons would be playing Santa in Red One, and it looks like he got absolutely jacked to play the role.

Dwayne Johnson shared a handful of images of J.K. Simmons as Santa Claus in Red One on his Instagram, and the actor is looking ripped. Check those images out below.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Dwayne Johnson (@therock)

“Ladies, gentlemen & children of all ages.. the coolest, strongest, kindest, most bad ass, most loving & most OG Santa Claus of all time,” Dwayne Johnson wrote in the caption. “Brought to life by Academy Award winner, J.K. Simmons who worked his ass off for months to step into this iconic role in AMAZING SHAPE for our Christmas franchise film,
RED ONE. We’re having a BLAST and so will you and your families when you see our movie!!” We still don’t know exactly what Red One is all about, but Johnson has previously teased that it’s “Jumanji meets Miracle on 34th St. meets Hobbs & Shaw, with a dash of Harry Potter and sprinkled on top with my all time favorite Christmas movie, It’s a Wonderful Life.” Make of that what you will.

In addition to Dwayne Johnson and J.K. Simmons, Red One also stars Chris Evans, Kiernan Shipka, Lucy Liu, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Nick Kroll, Kristofer Hibvju, and Bonnie Hunt. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle director Jake Kasdan is helming Red One from a script by Chris Morgan based on an original story from Hiram Garcia. The film has previously been described as “a globe-trotting, four-quadrant action-adventure comedy, imagining a whole new universe to explore within the holiday genre.” J.K. Simmons has typically always been in pretty good shape, but he does hit the gym pretty hard from time to time. He got notably ripped prior to filming his role of Commissioner James Gordon in Justice League, which damn near blew up the internet.

Red One doesn’t have an official release date yet, but it’s expected to be released exclusively as an Amazon Prime Video original movie during the 2023 holiday season.

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Christmas-themed properties are lucrative. It has been a long-running joke that crooner Michael Bublé only surfaces during the holidays when his Christmas songs make regular rotations, and Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas has found recent infamous popularity. Enough to have the pop diva declare herself “Queen of Christmas.” Recently, with films like Violent Night and The Mean One, crossing Christmas with violence and action looks to turn traditional classics on its side. One such film audiences have to look forward to for the next holiday season is the Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans yule-tide action film Red One. Johnson, ever the serial promoter, has recently posted pictures via his Twitter of some behind-the-scenes photos, which feature a scene of him riding a large vehicle and running down a platform before the environment has been added. In his tweet, the Black Adam star describes the film as “JUMANJI meets MIRACLE ON 34TH ST meets HOBBS & SHAW with a dash of HARRY POTTER & ITS A WONDERFUL LIFE.”

Joining Johnson and Evans in the cast will be J.K. Simmons, Bonnie Hunt, Kiernan Shipka, Lucy Liu, Kristofer Hivju, Nick Kroll, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, and Wesley Kimmel. The movie is written by Chris Morgan, who also penned Johnson’s Hobbs & Shaw, from a story based on Johnson’s producing partner, Hiram Garcia. The film will be directed by Jake Kasdan, who helmed the two recent Jumanji movies, Welcome to the Jungle and The Next Level.

Red One is set to premiere on Amazon Prime during the holiday season in 2023.

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