The mere existence of Amazon’s Red One is enough to generate plenty of quizzical looks, when the entire concept sounds so bizarrely bonkers that it’s become one of the most intriguing and potentially unique big budget blockbusters on the horizon.
Dwayne Johnson, the world’s biggest and highest-paid movie star, is headlining a festive action comedy that he described as “Miracle on 34th Street meets Hobbs & Shaw“, which is intended as the launchpad for an entire holiday universe that will deliver some “badass Christmas lore”, whatever the hell that’s supposed to mean.
Naturally, this led to much speculation that Johnson would be playing a ridiculously jacked version of Santa Claus drawn into a world-saving adventure that threatens both Yuletide cheer and the entire planet, but producer Hiram Garcia confirmed with SlashFilm that The Rock is not going to be Jolly Old Saint Nick.
“It’s funny, he’s not playing Santa. For some reason, everyone thinks he’s playing Santa. He’s not playing Santa, but he’s playing something really awesome. We’re really excited about it. It’s the movie we’re looking to film next year. We’re thrilled to have Jake Kasdan to direct it, because he is such a master in that space and the tone we’re wanting to do. It is very much Hobbs & Shaw meets Guardians of the Galaxy meets Miracle on 34th Street.
It’s going to take holiday mythology and turn it on its head. Really, it’s hard to find another Christmas movie to even compare to it. I don’t think there’s ever been anything done like this in that space, which is always very appealing to us. We’re really excited about it, Amazon’s been great with it, and we’re in the process – the script’s about to be written, and we’ll be shooting that next year. Our goal is, knock on wood, we’re hoping to have that ready for December 2023.”
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and The Next Level director Jake Kasdan was recently announced to be helming Red One, and he’s a dab hand at effects-driven crowd-pleasers. Reuniting him with Johnson puts the movie in a safe pair of hands, and we’re very curious to see how this all turns out when the finished product comes to Amazon in late 2023.
Published: Nov 9, 2021 06:33 am