One of the more unexpected announcements to come out of Hollywood this week was the news that Dwayne Johnson had partnered up with Amazon for big budget holiday-themed action comedy Red One, which may or may not involve the world’s biggest movie star playing a variation on Santa Claus.
It’s an oddly specific passion project for the actor and his Seven Bucks outfit, with the company’s President of Production Hiram Garcia writing the story treatment and bringing it to Johnson over five years ago, and the script is now being tackled by longtime Fast & Furious scribe Chris Morgan, with Amazon already teasing an entire holiday universe built out from Red One that they’ll cross-promote all over their massive multimedia empire.
Shooting will begin next year to ensure that Red One is locked, loaded and ready to go for the 2023 festive season, and Johnson recently took to social media and celebrated the surprise announcement, offering up the first details on the project, which you can read below.
A cavalcade of Christmas titles arrive every year, but not many of them boast the budget and star power that’s coming attached to Red One. Fast & Furious‘ Luke Hobbs doing Miracle on 34th Street with a dash of It’s a Wonderful Life thrown in for good measure certainly promises a unique addition to the festive canon, and it sounds as though a director will be unveiled in the not too distant future.
“A new twist on our CHRISTMAS MYTHOLOGY and creating the most fun HOLIDAY UNIVERSE to enjoy. Imagine HOBBS meets MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET. Our RED ONE writer is one of the greatest action writers of all time, Chris Morgan.
Chris wrote FAST 5 (my favorite Fast & Furious movie), FAST 6, FAST 7, FAST 8 and HOBBS & SHAW! And lastly, there’s only one person who can direct RED ONE and bring that one of kind Christmas mana and epic adventure and FUN to the film… That announcement coming soon! Christmas is my favorite time of year and I can’t for us to make this movie for you and your families.”
Dwayne Johnson is teasing someone with a background in Christmastime action and adventure to take the reins of Red One, so surely Shane Black would be the man for the job? After all, he evidently loves the holidays and is famed for wisecracking dialogue, not to mention he’s got big budget experience from Iron Man 3, and is still penciled in to team with Johnson eventually for Doc Savage.
