The holiday season is getting an action-packed twist with the first Red One trailer. Led by Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans, the movie centers on Johnson’s North Pole’s Head of Security as he races against time to find who has kidnapped J.K. Simmons’ Santa Claus, turning to the world’s most infamous bounty hunter, and Level 4 Naughty Lister, to find him. Also starring Kiernan Shipka, Lucy Liu, Bonnie Hunt and Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Red One hails fromJumanji director Jake Kasdan with a script from Fast & Furious franchise vet Chris Morgan.
Now, with half a year still remaining until its release, Amazon MGM has shared a look at Red One ahead of its release later this year.
The video, as seen above, reveals the unique twist on Santa Claus, now a buffed-up figure leading a technologically advanced and magically-charged North Pole, and the intense security surrounding him. The trailer goes on to show the adventure Johnson’s Head of Security character goes on as Santa is kidnapped, with Evans’ character finding himself shocked as he learns about the fantastical world connected to Santa Claus, including monstrous snowmen and Krampus.
Can Red One Redeem Evans & Johnson’s Action Struggles?
More than just finally gearing up for release after a lengthy development cycle, Red One also has many eyes on it for whether it can overcome its behind-the-scenes troubles to be a hit. A troubling report came out in April 2024 that Johnson was often late to the set of the film, sometimes “not showing up at all”, which led to the production budget increasing to a large $250 million. Spokespeople for Johnson, Seven Bucks Productions and Amazon MGM have since disputed these reports, praising the former two as being “incredible partners” for the movie and assuring that “testing has been very strong” for it.
Even if these reports are indeed misinformed, though, Red One also brings with it the weight of attempting to course correct both Johnson and Evans’ action-oriented efforts on screen. While once the predominant leaders of the box office, both have seen some struggles in recent years with the critical responses to their action genre titles, with Johnson’s Red Notice and Evans’ The Gray Man at Netflix both proving underwhelming, in spite of the streamer aiming to launch franchises for both. Check out how both Johnson and Evans’ recent action movies have fared on Rotten Tomatoes below:
Title
RT Critics Score
RT Audience Score
Jungle Cruise
63%
92%
Red Notice
37%
92%
Black Adam
38%
88%
The Gray Man
45%
90%
Ghosted
25%
55%
Despite some of these hurdles, there are some reasons why Red One could prove a hit for Johnson and Evans and redeem their action genre personas. Johnson and Kasdan’s previous collaboration on the recent Jumanji movies were both critical and commercial hits, while Amazon MGM’s decision to shift from a streaming-only release for the action-comedy to a theatrical one could be seen by audiences as a vote of confidence that it could be a success. However, with the movie releasing the same weekend as Gladiator II and two weeks before Johnson’s own sequel Moana 2, it will face some heavy competition.