‘Red One' Trailer: Amazon/MGM's Trouble-Ridden $250M Gamble Stars Dwayne Johnson

The new trailer for “Red One,” starring Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans, has been released. There’s some heavy baggage that comes with this one.

Synopsis: “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”.

Last December, Deadline reported that “Red One,” dated for November 15, 2024, had tested twice and that the scores were “through the roof.” I automatically stamped a red flag on this report given that it was the opposite of what I’d been hearing and that, more than likely, Amazon leaked the “high test scores” story to the trades to get ahead of a story that was about to hit the film.

Well, lo and behold, that story arrived in late April, that’s when The Wrap reported that the budget on “Red One” had ballooned to over $250 million. Apparently, Dwayne Johnson was partly to blame for this as the actor was frequently late to the set, 7-8 hours on average, and sometimes just wouldn’t show up, which caused costs of around $50M.

“Dwayne truly doesn’t give a f–k,” one insider bluntly stated.

TheInSneider then reported that they’d heard the “Red One” test screenings had actually not gone all that well and that it was “an unmitigated disaster,” comparing it to M. Night Shyamalan’s “Lady in the Water” and describing it as “ChatGPT’s idea of what a commercial, four-quadrant film should be.”

Amazon had originally been dated to release on December 20, 2024. The studio wanted it ready in time for holiday audiences, but it turned out to be “a big lump of coal,” according to Sneider’s source. The end result is that it got delayed by 11 months and is now set for release this November.

“Red One” is directed by Jake Kasdan, he directed Johnson’s two ‘Jumanji’ movies, as well as “Bad Teacher,” “Sex Tape,” and “Walk Hard.”