Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans take a back seat to Santa Claus in Red One trailer

It's all about the man with all the toys in the first trailer for the new holiday comedy

Image credit: Amazon MGM Studios

News by Graeme McMillan Editor

Published on June 25, 2024

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Sure, I get it: everyone thinks that a holiday movie featuring Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans is enough of a draw in and of itself, but the first trailer for Amazon MGM’s Red One reveals the movie’s actual secret weapon: J.K. Simmons as Ol’ Saint Nick himself.

The trailer — which also features Lucy Liu, who deserves better, let’s be honest — is a model of efficiency in terms of letting everyone know what they’re in store for in the movie: Chris Evans’ Jack O’Malley is speedily established as naughty because he, get this, actually steals candy from a baby! Dwayne Johnson’s Callum Drift is… well, Dwayne Johnson, but he says things like “He’s on the list! That list. NL4,” as if people haven’t seen Arthur Christmas. (To be fair, not enough people have seen Arthur Christmas.) But who cares? Callum and Jack have a mission, and it’s one we support: save J.K. Simmons as Santa so we can see more of J.K. Simmons as Santa. This is what we want.

MGM’s official description of the movie runs as follows:”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.”

The movie has a fascinating pedigree; it’s directed by Jake Kasdan, who gave the world Sex Tape, the last two Jumanji movies, and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, and co-written by Chris Morgan, the writer who’s guided the Fast and the Furious movie franchise since Tokyo Drift.

Red One will hit theaters November 15. Watch the trailer below.

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