Look, I get it; Dwayne Johnson’s silver screen status echoes that of the action movie stars of yore, and perhaps evokes some pseudo-nostalgia for the days when Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone were regularly bossing the big screen; indeed, at the sight of Johnson’s khaki-clad calves, movies might seem like big, explosive popcorn fare again.

Except Rambo, Rocky, The Running Man, and Terminator were all intelligent stories simply masquerading as big explosive popcorn fare, while Red One — the latest iteration of Johnson’s Xerox of an acting career — is a dreary CGI festival that’s constantly at war with its own existence. And yet, the suits are convinced it’s the future.

Why? Because after hauling in $175.5 million at the box office on a $250 million production budget, Red One found itself pulling double duty in theaters and on Prime Video, the latter of which has been the site of a four-day viewership draw numbering 50 million; the highest-ever for a film’s first weekend on the streamer.

Per Variety, Amazon MGM Studios Jennifer Salke spoke to the strategy inherent to releasing Red One on streaming in the middle of its theatrical run.

Given the audience response to Red One both in theaters and on Prime Video, the film will clearly be a perennial holiday favorite for years to come. Every film is different, and we are so grateful for the partnership with our filmmakers in collectively finding the right strategy to get this film in front of the widest possible audience. With Red One, there was no doubt that strategy needed to include a theatrical release and associated marketing campaign, which drove audiences to theaters and generated awareness for the film with viewers who would ultimately tune in on Prime Video. It’s rewarding to see our plan pay off for customers, and we are incredibly thankful to the entire filmmaking team and cast who helped make it happen.

Intentionally or not, it is an ominous and sinister development in the world of film if the suits can not only convince themselves that Red One is destined for “favorite” status, but that this is in any way a payoff for the customers.

Jennifer, nobody is watching Red One sincerely. They can’t, because Red One does not want to be watched sincerely. It wants you to take it seriously, but also laugh at how ridiculous the proceedings are, and not once does it give you the space to do either of those things on your own . It moves through plot beats like a checklist, and none of them are tied to any real emotion; Dwayne Johnson’s protagonist begins the movie with a crisis of faith in Christmas, and ends the movie with a restored faith for no other reason than the movie being over.

So you can keep your viewership records and box office totals, but do not, for one second, think that numbers alone are capable of identifying an instant classic. MGM is playing a relevance game while believing it’s a substitute for remembrance, a fact they’d do well to when Red One‘s relevance fizzles out in a month or two, all while decades-old anthems of sincerity persist as brightly as they have for years.

On June 25, 2024, the first trailer for Red One — the latest entry in the Dwayne Johnson slush pile — descended upon Earth, and everybody was mostly certain that it was going to be dreadful. On Nov. 15, 2024, Red One released in theaters, and it proceeded to bomb at the box office since, presumably, it was exactly as dreadful as everyone suspected.

And on Dec. 12, 2024, not even a month after beginning its theatrical run (which, depending on where you are in the world, hasn’t even ended yet), Red One threw in the towel and cannonballed straight onto Prime Video. Less than a day later, it quickly ascended to the top of the charts for precisely the same reason that it only raked in a fraction of its budget at the theater; it’s inconsequential slop whose majority of viewings could only ever be prompted by the vague nihilism that has taken root in so many living room couches these days.

Indeed, per FlixPatrol, Red One is sitting without a care in the world at the top of the United States’ Prime Video film rankings at the time of writing, no doubt enjoying its time in the spotlight before natural selection inevitably confines this one to the fringes of history.

The film stars Johnson as Callum Drift, head of security at the North Pole who’s tasked with making sure Santa Claus (J. K. Simmons) is protected from harm at all times. When the evil Christmas witch Grýla launches an assault on the North Pole and kidnaps him, Callum must team up with naughty-lister Jack O’Malley (Chris Evans) to ensure his safe return.

For a man who quite clearly consumes more calories in a day than most of us probably see in a week, it’s quite incredible how devoid of nutrition Johnson’s latest is here. There is ittedly something mildly amusing about how seriously Johnson plays Callum whilst being surrounded by anthropomorphic bad-cop polar bears, portals in toy stores, and killer snowmen that someone was allegedly paid to animate, but it’s not the sort of amusement you enjoy.

No, there is a massive, unspoken difference between laughing at something that’s creatively tuned to tension and human emotion, and laughing at something because we’ve descended into the DEFCON Brainrot level of consumerism that aims to suck the landscape dry of sincerity and package our precious remaining dopamine in varying shades of meaninglessness and irony that we nevertheless give into, because what else is there to engage with?

Red One, in case I lost you there, is an example of the latter, and it hardly even pretends not to be. Even with holiday-themed goons and monsters, Callum’s weaponization of children’s toys, and a premise that practically screams “Please, for the love of God, just have fun with how goofy this all is,” it still settles for unceremonious meandering that only very occasionally pretends to care about anything that occurs during its two-hour runtime.

Luckily, despite the dark picture I painted for you two paragraphs ago, there’s actually plenty of fantastic, joyful, and moving films being made every single day, and making a choice about the art we choose to engage with is just one way that we can all fulfill our very human responsibility of operating from a place of sincerity and radical love. So, toss on something like The Holdovers, Past Lives, The Fall Guy, or It’s a Wonderful Life; so long as we stop enabling nonsense like Red One, it’s a win.

It’s been a great weekend at the domestic box office, with two major 2024 releases finally making their debut. These are the highly anticipated Broadway musical adaption Wicked, and Ridley Scott’s long-awaited sequel Gladiator 2. But for all their show-stopping and cinematic glory, they aren’t the only movies playing this weekend.

Alongside these two movies is another blockbuster that has entered its second week in theaters and that is Red One, the holiday action flick starring Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. Despite the overwhelmingly positive fan reaction from those who have already seen the movie, Red One is struggling at the box office, to the point where it has set a new (though unenviable) record for its leading man.

The week two figures for Red One at the box office show the biggest week-over-week drop for The Rock since the iconic misfire that was Black Adam. Needless to say, the hierarchy of holiday movie power won’t be changing anytime soon.

Over the three-day weekend, Red One is set to earn around $13 million according to Deadline, which will be a 59 percent drop off from its debut weekend where it took in $31 million. So while the movie is looking to cross that $50 million milestone domestically, it still has a huge way to go before it makes back that history-making, eyebrow-raising budget which is said to have exceeded $250 million (that’s a lot of Santa hats). The good news is that its global take has helped significantly, and in total Red One has made $117 million so far.

In other box office news, Wicked topped the haul this weekend at the domestic box office, making an estimated $114 million during its opening days. Trailing behind by a significant margin was Gladiator 2 which opened in the United States to a $55 million take. Fortunately, the Ridley Scott sequel to the 2000 original already opened in some international markets last week, so its total earnings are already over $220 million.

While things in the Red One camp are looking rocky, it’s not game over just yet. As we mentioned previously, the sentiment from those who have actually seen the movie couldn’t be better to the point where it has maintained an audience score on Rotten Tomatoes of over 90 percent. Perhaps this positive and word of mouth could give the film more legs as we approach Thanksgiving and the rest of the holiday season.

If you aren’t familiar with what Red One is about then trust us, you’re not alone. It’s not a premise that you would guess just from hearing the name. Red One tells the story of Santa’s assistant who is tasked with locating the big man after he’s kidnapped, but to reach him he’s forced to recruit a “level four naughty lister” to help get the job done.

Yes, that’s what the movie calls him. This deviant is played by Chris Evans, adding to the movie’s A-lister clad cast that also includes J.K. Simmons, Kiernan Shipka and Lucy Liu. If you’re looking for a holiday film that’s a little different, then Red One might be right for you. There are a lot of people who have seen it that would say it is, they just happen not to be the critics.

Red One might be one of, if not the most expensive holiday movie ever made, and at a glance, its previews look like nothing groundbreaking, but what if I told you the movie was resonating with fans just as much as Christopher Nolan’s masterpiece, Oppenheimer?

We aren’t the first ones to utter these two completely different movies in the same sentence, in fact, the first that we know of was Red One star Dwayne Johnson himself. Ahead of the new film’s release, Johnson shared a story about the time he went to see Oppenheimer, and how that got him inspired about the future of Red One.

“With Red One, our intention was to make a movie that you can enjoy on the biggest screen possible,” Johnson said during an interview with IMAX. “I was midway through shooting Red One and I had an opportunity to see Oppenheimer. I watched in the IMAX theater where Christopher Nolan watches and screens his movies. It was amazing, but I was thinking: ‘Holy shit. Red One on this screen and with this technology could be game over.”

For anyone who knows what Red One is you’re probably confused to hear a statement like that, and yeah we’d agree. However, the only thing that’s important is what audiences are thinking, and those who have lodged their reviews on Rotten Tomatoes have spoken, and it’s feeling a lot like Oppenheimer.

Right now Red One has an incredible audience review score of 90 percent on the review website with more than 1000 scores lodged. That mirrors closely the 91 percent that Oppenheimer has curated since its initial release.

What makes it even more intriguing is the fact that critics slammed the holiday movie resulting in an abysmal 33% Tomatometer score. Even the first reactions to the movie were lackluster. While they praised the chemistry between characters on screen, they didn’t offer much in the way of highlighting other strengths in the production. But again, all that matters is the fans, and they’re loving it.

A glance at the reviews lodged by audiences shows that they love the holiday spirit that the movie emits. Not just that, but the special effects, cast, and unique story are all being extremely well received, so that’s a job well done for Johnson and the team right?

Well, the movie still has to recoup that incredibly high budget at the box office, and it seems to be off to a promising start outperforming extremely low domestic estimates. The movie debuted with a $34 million domestic box office take and $84 million globally. This will help out greatly in making back that cash, and we expect now that there are positive reviews from fans that will also make a big difference in getting moviegoers out to see it.

If you’re wondering what the plot of Red One actually is then here’s what you need to know. Red One is a story where Santa has been kidnapped and it’s up to his assistant who Johnson plays to team up with a level four naughty lister, played by Chris Evans, to rescue the big man.

Red One is in theaters now.

Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans delivered a true stinker with Red One. This one’s stench is destined to linger on the careers of everyone involved. That said, the run-of-the-mill, cliché-filled bomb can at least, when everything is said and done, say it didn’t lose as much money as everyone thought it would.

In the lead-up to the film’s release, Johnson infamously made yet another gaffe about how he expected the film to be as well received as Oppenheimer. He thought that not only would it use IMAX, but the film would also feature his large chest so it has to be a sure hit. Unfortunately for Johnson and Evans, both of whom desperately need a hit, the audience seemed to believe they deserved a bit more from their Christmas film.

The intention behind Red One was actually quite noble. These days, there are kids who are attuned to action comedies in the style of the Fast & Furious franchise, and the idea of creating a movie around Santa Claus as an action hero — where gift-giving becomes a mission only he can complete — is potentially intriguing. With this in mind, casting Johnson, J.K. Simmons, and Evans under the penmanship of the Fast saga’s Chris Morgan made it seem like their work was half done.

However, the end product turned out to be a misguided, unoriginal mash-up of far better movies executed in sharper ways. With no considerable humor or Christmas spirit, Red One failed to resonate. Rather than taking risks, it seemed far too interested in patronizing previous cinematic trends than in genuinely entertaining or possibly even moving its audience. As a result, critics tore it apart. Those audience who did check it out left the theaters with only bad things to say. In all likelihood, this movie will be forgotten long before winter arrives.

Meanwhile, social media s were quick to mock the movie, pointing out how ridiculous Johnson’s statement about making Red One comparable to Oppenheimer now looks in retrospect. The movie has only made $34 million on a bloated $250 million budget, a fact that further fueled online ridicule.

Still, there is a silver lining to this colossal failure. A major rejection like this from audiences can serve as a wake-up call for studios — especially new entrants like Amazon’s MGM Studios, which handled production and domestic distribution of this movie. It shows that audiences remain strongly attached to great stories with genuine perspective and, most importantly, originality. This bomb proves that fans will settle for nothing less.

Ultimately, the legacy of Red One seems to be fans discovering that Johnson allegedly shows up to work eight hours late. One can only wish they had used that downtime to do more work on the script and make it at least a little inventive. If not for Johnson, then at least for Evans. And speaking of Evans, if his recent picks aren’t going to break the box office anyway, perhaps it’s time for him to go back to his roots and collaborate with auteur directors like Bong Joon-ho and Edgar Wright.

Red One seeks to merge high-octane action with kooky CGI monsters, all in an attempt to earn its place among the crop of Christmas movies that have stood the test of time. But this action-comedy’s overambition is its greatest downfall.

Once again, it’s clear that Dwayne Johnson is right at home with being typecast. While he may be surrounded by the larger-than-life fictional personalities that make the holidays great, Red One is yet another avenue to showcase Johnson’s colossal physicality. Some softness does manifest during the movie’s lengthy two-hour runtime, but this feat is largely attributed to his pairing with Chris Evans.

In Red One, Santa Claus (or at least a jacked-up version of him played by J.K. Simmons) has been kidnapped on Christmas Eve. Now, it’s up to the head of the North Pole’s security team (Dwayne Johnson) to bring him back and save Christmas. To accomplish this, he teams up with an infamous hacker named Jack O’Malley (Chris Evans). Topping off the cast are: Lucy Liu, Kiernan Shipka, Kristofer Hivju, and Nick Kroll. 

As the buzz for Red One began to increase, social media couldn’t help but notice the film’s alarmingly high budget of almost $250 million. For such a massive sum, you’d expect fireworks. But Red One suffers from only providing short bursts of action and no emotional investment in anything that’s happening. The blame game will have you pointing to Dwayne Johnson, due to a previously established sense of grandiosity, but Jake Kasdan’s direction is also not helping matters.

The pacing is not only erratic, but it aims for eye-catching moments rather than anything meaningful. While this succeeds in awarding the audience with slick action sequences, these eye-candy scenes quickly evaporate into nothingness and don’t move the story forward. Altogether, Red One is completely unsure of what it wants to be. Through forced humor, which undermines the tension, and chains of activities devoid of emotional payoff, Red One, is simply unrewarding.

Strangely enough, Johnson’s charisma, his saving grace as an actor, is largely missing from his performance. Evans, for his part, delivers much of what you’d expect from a former comedic actor. While his time in the MCU saw him move past his comedy film catalog, Red One reminds the audience of how great his timing is. Thankfully, his lighter energy rubs off on Johnson, resulting in Red One‘s funniest moments.

On the topic of the film’s outrageous budget, which rivals some of the best superhero movies ever released, there is no excuse. Red One could have been made with half of this amount, which begs the question of the delusions of grandeur that possessed the suits and ties to greenlight the project. There’s too much happening in the movie, and simultaneously, nothing is happening. Between the fairly predictable twists, the jokes have a hard time landing, and the CGI becomes unbearable after a while. The over-reliance on visual effects takes away any kind of groundedness from the film, and distracts from an obvious lack of substance, or any kind of character development.

But beyond all the displays, fight scenes, and a swole J.K. Simmons, Red One’s strong suit, and possibly its redeeming quality, is its mindlessness. This is a movie that was made, not to teach any lessons, but to distract you from everyday life, using CGI explosions, a talking polar bear, and a power slap competition. The best way to experience Red One is to go in with rock bottom expectations, and just enjoy the extravaganza of it all. After all, in case you forgot, it cost a staggering quarter of a billion dollars to make.

Unfortunately, for those in search of holiday magic, Red One isn’t a good choice. The film lacks Christmas charm, and substitutes warm feelings for cold-hearted action. Coupled with a generic plot with no room for surprises, it’s something that, at best, is a mild distraction.

The festive period is almost upon us, so it’s time to watch as many Christmas movies as possible. The final couple of months of 2024 will see the release of a few new holiday films — Hot Frosty, Dear Santa, Our Little Secret, and That Christmas, for example — but the biggest is arguably the action-adventure fantasy comedy Red One.

Sadly, not even Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, Lucy Liu, and J.K. Simmons can prevent Red One from being a yuletide dud, so you should consider watching these Christmas action flicks instead.

10. Rise of the Guardians (2012)

DreamWorks’ animated fantasy action-adventure Rise of the Guardians sees Santa Claus teaming with the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, the Sandman, and Jack Frost to stop the evil bogeyman, Pitch Black, from sinking the planet into darkness. The voices of Chris Pine, Alec Baldwin, Jude Law, Isla Fisher, and Hugh Jackman, added to the crisp animation and breathless pace, make this one entertaining. Think of it as an Avengers movie for younger kids.

9. Jingle All the Way (1996)

The family comedy movie Jingle All the Way may not be a Christmas masterpiece, but it’s a lot of fun and has become a festive staple. It follows Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Howard Langston in his desperate last-minute attempts to acquire an elusive Turbo Man toy for his son in time for the youngster to open on Dec. 25. The ensuing action is cartoonish and silly but perfect for easy watching on a cold Christmas evening, and Arnie is a hoot in it.

8. Violent Night (2022)

Violent Night is far from the typical Christmas movie, and neither does it typically portray Santa Claus. The action comedy stars David Harbour as the big red guy, who goes up against vicious mercenaries who have taken a wealthy family hostage in their Greenwich, Connecticut mansion. John Leguizamo appears as the main bad guy, Scrooge, and he and Harbour bounce off each other brilliantly. The repeated use of Christmas items as deadly weapons sometimes makes this one hilarious.

7. Rocky IV (1985)

The fourth installment in the Rocky franchise, Rocky IV, is a sports drama with bags of action. From the boxing to the epic training montages, this one will motivate even the laziest of couch potatoes into shadow boxing in front of the nearest mirror. It sees Sylvester Stallone’s eponymous boxer going up against Dolph Lundgren’s Russian warrior Ivan Drago in an unsanctioned Christmas Day bout. Seeing Rocky overcome his formidable opponent with a festive backdrop is thoroughly rousing.

6. The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)

The action thriller The Long Kiss Goodnight stars a tremendous cast, including Geena Davis, Samuel L. Jackson, and David Morse. It’s about Davis’ school teacher who, suffering from amnesia, attempts to rediscover who she is with the help of a private investigator, played by Jackson. With a prominent Christmas backdrop, including a memorable festive parade scene, The Long Kiss Goodnight brings bags of fun, wittiness, and satisfyingly over-the-top action.

5. Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale is a unique movie that boasts fantasy, action, horror, and comedy elements. The Finnish film follows a group of British and American researchers near Korvatunturi, in Lapland, on the border between Finland and Russia, who discover the terrifying true secret behind the legend of Santa Claus. The combination of horror and deadpan humor makes for a superb viewing experience — and you’ll never look at Father Christmas in the same way again.

4. Batman Returns (1992)

Set during the festive season and featuring a memorable scene depicting the lighting of Gotham City’s Christmas tree, Batman Returns was the second appearance of Michael Keaton as the Dark Knight and the final Tim Burton-directed Batman movie. The film sees Keaton’s Batman facing Christopher Walken’s wealthy industrialist Max Shreck, Danny DeVito’s deformed crime boss, the Penguin, and Michelle Pfeiffer’s sultry seductress Catwoman. It’s funny, fast-paced, and memorably performed by its all-star cast.

3. Lethal Weapon (1987)

Many people forget that Lethal Weapon is set at Christmas — primarily because the time of year it takes place doesn’t remotely affect the plot — but it is. It stars Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in their first outings as Los Angeles Police Department narcotics sergeant Martin Riggs and homicide sergeant Roger Murtaugh, respectively. The mismatched duo must work together to uncover a vast drug-trafficking ring. While occasionally absurd, it’s teeming with great action, energy, and humor.

2. Home Alone (1990)

One of the most iconic Christmas movies of all time, Home Alone is a comedy with more hilarious slapstick action than you could shake a candy cane at. It follows Macaulay Culkin’s Kevin McCallister, an eight-year-old boy inadvertently left behind as his family heads to Paris for the festive period. Kevin must defend his house from bumbling burglars, played by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern, using innovative booby traps of his creation. Home Alone is brilliant, and its 1992 sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, brings an equal amount of fun and heartwarming yuletide joy.

1. Die Hard (1988)

Arguably the greatest action movie ever made, Die Hard is also a festive staple. Set on Christmas Eve, it follows Bruce Willis’ New York City Police Department detective John McClane to Los Angeles, where he hopes to reconcile with his estranged wife but gets embroiled in a German radical’s plot to steal the $640 million in untraceable bearer bonds from a skyscraper’s vaults, taking the building’s staff hostage during their Christmas party. Alan Rickman steals the show as the villainous Hans Gruber. Die Hard is gritty, amusing, teeming with memorable one-liners, and an action fan’s dream.

Dwayne Johnson has itted to those unbecoming rumors about things he does while shooting films, and we’re not talking about feuding with Vin Diesel over whose biceps fill the frame in The Fast and the Furious movies.

When asked about the pervasive rumor that he urinates into water bottles on set to save time, Johnson candidly told GQ, “Yeah. That happens.”

The gossip first circulated when an expose on Red One’s “$250 million runaway production” was unleashed by The Wrap. The exclusive report goes into detail on how Johnson’s tardiness on set allegedly led to an overstretched budget and frustrated co-stars.

“On set, away from his trailer, if he needs to pee, he doesn’t go to the public bathroom,” a source close to the production claimed. “He pees in a Voss water bottle and his team or a PA has to dispose of it.”

Johnson itted to this pee practice in 2021, when he said he sometimes had to take bladder breaks during gym workouts and crack open a bottle. He said in an Esquire video, “I need to go to the bathroom a lot. Not a lot, but probably a couple of times during a workout I have to go to the bathroom. So I break out the bottle.”

Additionally, there’s a 2017 Instagram video where this is evidenced in a, you guessed it, Voss bottle. He said, “I go hardcore when I train. I find a bottle, I pee in it and I keep training like a beast.”

It was a little befuddling at the time, but little did we know he was doing this on the set of blockbuster movies and having some poor assistant walk off with his warm bodily fluids in hand.

Red One red flags

When he resorted to it on the set of Red One, the Christmas film was already behind schedule. Delayed release dates were blamed on the Hollywood strikes in 2023; the true story was more complicated. Sources said Johnson was constantly late, and therefore the pressure kept piling on to get things moving.

The WWE superstar-turned-actor often boasts about his work ethic, which is hard to question when you look at his chiseled body and successful businesses. However, Johnson’s version of working hard apparently didn’t mesh with the crew’s.

Sources alleged his “chronic lateness” contributed to an inflated budget that rose to a quarter of a million dollars and the release date changing from Christmas 2023 to Nov. 2024. He apparently “showed up as much as eight hours late to set on the movie, forcing the crew to shoot around him on some days.”

Amazon MGM, the film’s theatrical distributor, promptly tried to shoot down the negative chatter in an interview with The Wrap. “We couldn’t have made it without Dwayne’s constant work and . Any reporting that implies that we got to this point with him showing up seven to eight hours late to set is both ridiculous and false.”

The GQ article that confirmed he pees into bottles on set also mentioned a packed schedule. Johnson was recently in Japan, finishing the sports drama The Smashing Machine. He then appeared at a Disney event to announce he’ll star in Monster Jam. And in fall 2024, Red One and Moana 2 will be released. Not to mention he’ll soon shoot the live-action Moana.

There’s an argument to be made that being so busy you have to go to the bathroom in plastic containers at work is counterproductive. But something tells us Johnson isn’t ready or willing to entertain that idea.

Dwayne Johnson is no stranger to an on-screen buddy action film, and while Kevin Hart has been a mainstay partner for this position over the last decade, a new challenger has arrived in the form of Chris Evans.

Johnson and Evans co-star in the Christmas-action film Red One, which looks to be this year’s most obscure holiday movie. Ahead of its holiday release, Red One has held its first screenings, and according to those who attended, the best part of the movie is the chemistry between its two main players.

That’s right, The Rock and Evans might just be the next big cinema tag team, as bromance-loving fans have championed the duo after seeing them share the screen in Red One. Almost every reaction, positive or otherwise, has mentioned just how great the two actors play off of each other in the holiday-themed romp.

Red One has been described as a thrilling Christmas adventure for the whole family by film journalist Rama’s Screen, and this sentiment was shared by several other moviegoers. Some praised the unique, fresh take on a holiday movie which seems to be taken entirely seriously by its cast despite the ridiculous premise. Alongside Evans and Johnson, Red One also stars J. K. Simmons, Lucy Liu and Kiernan Shipka.

Of course, not all of the first reactions to the movie have been quite as glowing. Reviewer Jonathan Sim slammed the movie by calling it mind-numbing and cheap-looking despite its hefty budget. “[Red One] isn’t funny enough to justify the absurdity,” Sim wrote on social media.

The look of Red One is something that has been criticized ever since the very first trailer dropped. Many fans were shocked and surprised about how it looked visually, especially given the amount of money thrown at the production which exceeds that of several Transformers movies.

While we can’t speak on the quality of the film just yet, fans aren’t wrong about the cost. Red One is one of the most expensive Christmas movies ever made, with a gigantic budget of $250 million. However, Amazon MGM Studios is hoping to grow this release into a franchise, so the big upfront investment isn’t unexpected.

According to Deadline, Red One is expected to have a US opening of $36 million, which isn’t fantastic but isn’t completely awful. With the star power on display, it shouldn’t be a surprise to see the movie perform well, but we should have a better idea of just how successful it will be once full reviews are made available.

For those who aren’t familiar with the movie, in Red One, Santa has been kidnapped and it’s up to his assistant, played by The Rock, to rescue him. For this task, authorities also recruit a “level four naughty lister” played by Chris Evans to help. Yeah, the premise is as ridiculous as it sounds, but every year there’s always that one holiday action movie, and this year Red One has taken that title.

If you’re interested in seeing the movie either for the bizarre plot or for Evans and The Rock’s apparently likeable chemistry as early reactions suggest, then you should head out to theaters starting Nov. 15, 2024. Heck, bring along a Santa hat and any “level four naughty listers” in your life.

Ah, the paycheck movie – a true Hollywood tradition. These movies, where the actor obviously took them because they were remodeling their kitchen or something, crop up from time to time and then gloriously bomb. From what we’re hearing, it looks like Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans have one for the ages coming out this Christmas, called Red One. At least they’re keeping a tradition going.

Matt Belloni, the former editor of The Hollywood Reporter and co-founder of Puck News, gave us an early Christmas present. It turns out Red One, which had a budget of around $253 million, is tracking to pull in around $36 million. Woof. How? You might be asking. Is it really that bad?

Honestly, we had the same response, at first. Things change when you watch the trailers. They just.. change. You know how there are things in life you can’t unsee? Things that stick with you like lint? This is one of those things.

The premise of this movie is that Santa Claus, who is incredibly buff for a reason no one understands, has been kidnapped. Johnson is his assistant, but North Pole authorities have called in Chris Evans, who’s a “level four naughty lister.” That’s a real quote from the movie.

After watching the trailer, $36 million seems high. How did a Christmas movie end up with this budget? There’s some fun backstory behind that, which we’ll get into that in a second.

We should point out first that Johnson is no stranger to bombing. This is the same man who thought Black Adam was going to be the new top superhero after all. That movie cost somewhere around $200 million. It needed to make around $600 million to be profitable. It made much, much less than that.

Last year around Christmas, Deadline wrote a story that Red One was testing through the roof. That smelled funny, and some posited that Amazon MGM was trying to get in front of stories that would say the opposite. Sure enough, that’s exactly what started to happen. Even better, the movie’s budget reportedly got out of control partly because Johnson seems to think the world revolves around him.

Back in April, The Wrap published a piece called “‘Red One’ Down: How Dwayne Johnson’s Tardiness Led to a $250 Million Runaway Production.” Good title, no? Turns out, Johnson would stroll into work late all the time, with the average being around somewhere in the 8-hour range. Other days he would simply not show up.

These selfish actions by the world’s biggest ego cost the production around $50 million. “Dwayne truly doesn’t give a f**k,” a source said.

The movie’s been described as an “unmitigated disaster” and “ChatGPT’s idea of what a commercial, four-quadrant film should be.” Wait just a second. You mean a Santa Claus action movie isn’t a good idea? Who would’ve thought?

But what are the people saying? That’s what matters, right? “Shocked it’s that high. It looks absolutely terrible,” one X said about the budget. Someone else asked “how the hell” a Christmas movie has a “bigger budget than all four of the first Transformers movies??” Yes, it’s probably going to bomb. That doesn’t mean it won’t be fun to watch, though. It’s hard not to watch a train wreck.

Whether playing Rory Gilmore’s conceited Chilton classmate/sworn enemy Tristan or making you feel all the feels on One Tree Hill, Chad Michael Murray was a staple of 2000s teen entertainment. Now, he’s back to make everyone successfully swoon (yay) while watching a Netflix Christmas movie.

Murray is starring in The Merry Gentleman alongside Britt Robertson, and the two play classic holiday characters in a classic holiday story: Attempting to stop a beloved place from shutting down. This time, they put on “an all-male, Christmas themed revue,” as Netflix put it. One word: Yes!

Unsurprisingly, fans shared on X that they are absolutely going to watch. Sure, the story sounds great, but just look at those abs…

But wait… there’s another handsome star in an holiday movie. Yup, I’m talking about Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson appearing in an utterly confusing film called Red One. While Murray’s fans can’t wait to watch him celebrate the holidays, people don’t get what The Rock’s latest is all about.

Johnson plays North Pole security agent Callum Drift which, okay, makes sense because he’s, you know, The Rock. But what is an action movie set at the North Pole? Aren’t Christmas movies supposed to be comforting, cozy vehicles that you watch with your favorite quilt and some hot chocolate? Instead, someone abducts Santa Claus (J.K. Simmons) and Johnson has to save the (holi)day. There’s also a polar bear named Agent Garcia (Reinaldo Faberlle)… for some reason.

Fans took to X to share their dismay at Red One as a whole, and I’d have to agree with them.

Would you rather watch a shirtless dancing Murray or, um, Johnson making sure that everything is all good at the North Pole? I think I know the answer. Murray, for his part, is excited to star in what is going to be perfect holiday entertainment. He said in an interview with Netflix.tudum.com, “We take a lot of the tropes that have been created for this particular genre and poke fun at them in such a tasteful way.” The Merry Gentlemen is all about having a good time and hopefully includes some other Hallmark-esque elements, from cookie contests to tree decorating chaos to a big secret being revealed at the last second. But, again, Murray without his shirt off! That’s enough of a draw for everyone.

Red One might have been doomed from the beginning and the issues have nothing to do with the strange plot and setting. According to The Wrap, the movie was meant to come out in 2023. Instead, the publication says that the budget ended up being $250 million, which is wild (and more than any other holiday film). Johnson also allegedly peed in a bottle that he made his assistant deal with and was late all the time. That’s definitely not how you get people to see your movie.

Even if people weren’t already sure that they wanted to see The Merry Gentleman instead of Red One, there are a few details that might change some minds. Murray’s character, Luke, is a contractor, which is all I personally needed to hear, and the place Luke and Ashley (Robertson) are rooting for is called The Rhythm Room. You have to love some alliteration.

I’ll check out The Merry Gentleman when it’s on Netflix on Nov. 20, 2024, and will skip Red One, which comes out five days earlier on Nov. 15. Let’s collectively be sure to make some hot cocoa and enjoy Murray’s Christmas gift to us all.

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Hmm, let’s see; an action comedy starring Dwayne Johnson as the head of North Pole security, who teams up with a longtime member of Santa’s naughty list when St. Nicholas himself winds up getting abducted by a shadowy enemy? Yep, this sounds genuinely terribly and completely out of control, and you can bet that I and millions of other suckers have every intention of sitting through this one.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Red One, the Johnson vehicle with those exact holiday stylings as described, and then some. Indeed, beyond also roping the likes of Chris Evans, Lucy Liu, and J.K. Simmons into the mix — the latter of which will be suiting up as the jolly red joygiver himself — Red One will be going all out with a mercenary polar bear, a sort of underground empire run by Krampus, and some rather explosive Christmas magic, in a manner of speaking.

The best and also the worst part? MGM wants to take the precedent of reimagined holiday mythology and use it to spawn even more films for a full-blown action franchise, so if we all plug into this nonsense, they’re probably going to keep that unholy ball rolling.

But folks, we need to talk about those impossibly swole, horrifically-rendered CGI snowmen that are shown to go up against our heroes right around the 2:04 mark in the trailer above. The only thing scarier than Frosty’s uncanny descendants is the pitiful dialogue that will probably permeate the whole encounter; yes, Jack, it is disturbing! Thank you for spoon-feeding the audience’s own reaction to them ahead of time.

Red Notice will hit theaters on Nov. 15, for some reason.