Ever pictured Santa Claus as a gym bro? You might not have to use your imagination for very long. Come November, you’ll see it in Red One, a holiday action comedy starring Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, and a very ripped J.K. Simmons as Santa (again)!
Red One is directed by Jake Kasdan, with screenplay by Chris Morgan and story by Hiram Garcia. The trailer for Red One has dropped, and the very first shot has Dwayne Johnson spotting J.K. Simmons as he works out in a tank jersey. That’s how you reel ‘em in, right? And we haven’t even gotten to the best part yet—Simmons is Nick, or rather St. Nicholas of Myra, a.k.a. Santa Claus. And it’s the second time he’s playing Santa, having voiced him in the animated Klaus (2019).
What’s the plot of Red One?
Well, as ripped as Santa is, he gets kidnapped from the North Pole Complex, and it looks like this is going to ruin the world tour. But not if these two guys can help it! Dwayne Johnson is Callum Drift, the commander of the E.L.F. Task Force charged with retrieving Santa so that Christmas doesn’t have to be canceled. But he can’t do it alone. He’s going to have to pair up with the world’s best tracker, Jack O’Malley, who happens to be an infamous name on Santa’s Naughty List.
The Red One Trailer is One Big Red Sack of Gags
From the trailer, Red One looks like a mix of a buddy-cop action comedy with the fantasy elements of a Christmas movie. There’s a talking polar bear, snowmen that are actually henchmen going after Drift and O’Malley, gigantic magical creatures that need to be fought, and there’s also a Krampus!
And of course, there’s banter, lots of banter, between Johnson and Evans’ characters, including a joke involving Wonder Woman with extra implications because Johnson is DC’s Black Adam and Evans played Captain America in the MCU.
The Red One movie cast
You’ve already seen J.K. Simmons, Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, and Lucy Liu in the trailer, but there’s more to the movie’s cast. Red One also stars Kiernan Shipka, Bonnie Hunt, Kristofer Hivju, Nick Kroll, and Wesley Kimmel.
What is the release date for Red One?
Red One will release just in time for a good holiday season watch, exclusively in theaters on November 15, 2024.
