The thought of Dwayne Johnson starring in a festive-themed action-comedy blockbuster, that he described in his own words as “Hobbs & Shaw meets Miracle on 34th Street,” is so insane that it’s actually kind of exciting, with Amazon forking out big bucks to secure the rights to Red One.
The project hails from an original idea by Seven Bucks’ Hiram Garcia, with the script hammered into shape by Fast & Furious veteran Chris Morgan. Red One was fast-tracked into development as the beginning of what the company called “a holiday universe,” whatever that’s supposed to mean, and a director has now been named.
As per The Hollywood Reporter, Johnson has returned to his inner circle once again to select Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and The Next Level‘s Jake Kasdan for the job. Not that it’s a bad thing, when the aforementioned titles have more than proven that he’s a dab hand at helming broad, effects-driven crowd pleasers.
Red One will shoot next year to arrive on Amazon in time for the holiday season, which means that it’ll be even longer than that before we see Johnson and Kasdan reunite with Kevin Hart, Jack Black, and Karen Gillan for the next installment in the Jumanji franchise.
