I saw Red One in theaters and, while the Dwayne Johnson starrer landed at No. 1 its first week, I was really disappointed when it didn’t end up popping at the box office. That all changed when the Amazon Prime Video movie hit streaming earlier this month to record December numbers. Now we’re well past 50 million subscribers tuning in to see the Santa-getting-kidnapped adventure, and The Rock, Chris Evans and co. have a little more to celebrate about the movie. In fact, I was pumped to hear the a-list cast talk about what they thought worked.
Speaking to CinemaBlend and other outlets, The Rock, Chris Evans and more got candid about why they feel the movie came together well, despite tying Santa lore in with an industrial military complex, other fairytales, an enemies-to-friends narrative and the "heart" fans love in a family film. (Really, when you lay it all out there, I see how some are skeptical.) Regardless, Johnson told us that it’s exactly that “heart” of the film that resonates through, and we have fellow star J.K. Simmons to thank.
I think you sprinkle in something that Jake [Kasdan] inherently does in his films… it’s heart, and there's so much heart in this movie. Like that's often an overstatement, in storytelling in Hollywood. But it's true, it's something like this. I think the idea, and it's one of my favorite parts of the movie, where JK [Simmons'] Santa Claus reminds me that it's our job to see the best in people, and look at that child, look beyond if they're on the naughty list … and look at the kid in everybody.
Of course, Dwayne Johnson’s favorite part of the move would have to do with JK Simmons’ fit Santa finding good in kids around the world. While Simmons arguably only plays a small role in the actual plot, his input is one of my favorite parts as well, and not just because of the hilarious joke the movie repeatedly makes about how much Santa has to eat in one night (and work out) in order to stay in shape and service the needs of billions of children around the globe.
It's also worth noting, in my opinion, that adding Simmons as fit Santa and showing off the look well before the movie's release gave fans -- both naughty and nice -- something to talk about before the 2024 movie's release. But Johnson said he was happy to have him on board so the movie ultimately hit the right tone with audiences.
Chris Evans also mentioned the myriad ways the action/adventure film offers a more global perspective as one of its most successful bits, so he’s definitely enthusiastic about the way it mixes lore in order to create something new and wholly original, a "code" they spent a lot of time trying to "crack."
We have a whole team of people who are trying to crack that code. I think it actually provides a lot of fun. There's such great Christmas folklore, not just the stories we all grew up with, but internationally. When you hear some of these creatures and stories and mythology, it almost begs for some sort of action adventure movie. So it's not quite as hard as you think.
While plenty of critics weren't super pumped about the movie, CinemaBlend's Red One review was positive, and we seem to be with the audiences on this one. About 90% of fans have who have seen the movie and rated it have enjoyed it, possibly because of that "heart" and that "mythology" Johnson and Evans were talking about. If that sounds up your alley, you too can do so with an Amazon Prime subscription.
