Red One (film)

Red One is an upcoming American Christmas action-adventure comedy film directed by Jake Kasdan and written by Chris Morgan, from an original story by Hiram Garcia. The film stars Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, Kiernan Shipka, Lucy Liu, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, J. K. Simmons, Nick Kroll and Kristofer Hivju. Johnson, Hiram Garcia, Dany Garcia, Kasdan, Melvin Mar and Morgan serve as the film's producers.

The project is seen as the first of a potential franchise, reimagining holiday mythology, produced by Amazon MGM Studios through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in association with Seven Bucks Productions, The Detective Agency, and Chris Morgan Productions.

Red One is scheduled to be released by Amazon MGM Studios in the United States on November 15, 2024.

Premise
Callum Drift, the head of North Pole security, must team up with Jack O'Malley, a bounty hunter, to find and rescue Santa Claus.

Production
Hiram Garcia at Seven Bucks Productions conceived the idea for the film, which was developed into a screenplay by Chris Morgan for Jake Kasdan to direct. Chris Evans joined the cast in January 2022. In September 2022, Kiernan Shipka was added to the cast. Lucy Liu, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, J. K. Simmons, Nick Kroll, Kristofer Hivju, Wesley Kimmel and Bonnie Hunt joined the cast the following month, with Ellis revealing her and Simmons' involvement on Instagram. Dwayne Johnson was paid $50 million for his involvement.

Filming began in October 2022 in Atlanta and wrapped in February 2023. Filming had to be done around Johnson, who was an average of seven to eight hours late to filming and missed several days of shooting. These delays reportedly increased the budget by $50 million to a total of $250 million. This has since been disputed.

Release
Red One was originally scheduled to be released on Prime Video worldwide in time for Christmas 2023. The release was delayed from December 20, 2023, until November 15, 2024, with the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike cited as the reason, along with the film now getting a worldwide theatrical release. Amazon MGM will distribute it in the USA, while Warner Bros. Pictures will handle the film's international release.

Footage of Red One was first shown at CinemaCon to journalists selected by Johnson's publicist, but they were not allowed to write about what they saw.