Red One: Dwayne Johnson & Chris Evans Save Christmas in Amazon-MGM’s Big-Budget Actioner

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.