Red One: Release Date, Cast, And Other Things We Know About The Dwayne Johnson And Chris Evans Christmas Movie

This holiday season, Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans will team up for Red One, an upcoming 2024 movie that will almost certainly find a spot on the list of great Christmas action movies. The movie, which will see one of Santa’s biggest helpers and a man with a permanent spot on the naughty list team up to save Old St. Nick and Christmas, sounds like it’s going to check all the boxes for audiences of all ages, and we have a ton of information you’ll probably want to know. 

That said, we’ve put together a list and checked it twice to make sure it has all the latest information on this action-packed holiday comedy, including its release date, who’ll be sharing the screen with two of People Magazine’s sexiest men alive, and so much more. Let’s take a look at Red One… 

What Is The Red One Release Date?

Red One is slated to open in theaters on November 15, 2024, Amazon MGM Studios has announced. 

You may be scratching your head right about now because you thought Red One was going to be a Prime Video streaming exclusive. And while that is true, and the movie was originally slated to be available for anyone with an Amazon Prime subscription, back in December 2023, the studio shifted things around following the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. The movie will eventually find its way to Prime Video, but an exact streaming date has not yet been announced. 

The Red One Cast

When Red One arrives like an early Christmas present in November, it will bring with it a cast that feels like a big stack of presents beneath the tree. But we won’t get mad if you take a peek. In fact, let’s go through the list of stars who make up the Red One cast.

Dwayne Johnson as Callum Drift

Dwayne Johnson, one of the best wrestlers-turned-actors has a lot on his plate, and one of those courses is Red One, in which he plays Callum Drift, the North Pole’s head of security.

Chris Evans as Jack O’Malley

Chris Evans, best known for his take on Captain America in some of the best Marvel movies, will be playing Jack O’Malley, a level four naughty lister, in Red One.

J.K. Simmons as Santa Claus

J.K. Simmons will show up in Red One as Santa Claus, but this doesn’t look like your grandpa’s Old St. Nick. The muscle-bound holiday legend will, however, find himself in some serious trouble.

Lucy Liu as Zoe

Lucy Liu is taking on the role of Zoe, a North Pole investigator looking into the kidnapping of Santa Claus in Red One.

Bonnie Hunt as Mrs. Claus

Bonnie Hunt, star of movies like Beethoven and Cheaper By the Dozen, is playing Mrs. Claus in Red One.

Kristofer Hivju as Krampus

Kristofer Hivju, who famously played Tormund Giantsbane on Game of Thrones, will show up in Red One as the mythical creature known as Krampus. 

Other members of the cast include Kiernan Shipka, Nick Kroll, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, and Wesley Kimmel in undisclosed roles.

What Is Red One About?

Red One has a fairly straight-forward premise in that it follows the North Pole’s head of security as he teams up with a naughty master tracker to get to the bottom of the kidnapping of Santa Claus, aka, Red One. Short on time and holiday magic, the unlikely duo must put aside their differences and save Old St. Nick before Christmas is ruined for all the good boys and girls around the world.

The Red One Trailer

In June 2024, Amazon MGM Studios gave the world its first look at the upcoming action movie with the first Red One trailer, a nearly three-minute romp of a good time. The first part of the preview lays out a fair amount of the plot points: Someone kidnaps Santa, his security detail sets off to find him with an unlikely ally, and they attempt to get to the bottom of the mystery. But it’s so much more than that as well… 

With Krampus, giant snowmen, toy cars that can transform into the real thing, and a Marvel hero and DC star talking about Wonder Woman, there’s so much to feast your eyes upon, and that doesn’t even touch on the insane chemistry shared by Johnson and Evans’ characters. If the movie is half as fun as the trailer, we’re in for a real treat this holiday season.

Dwayne Johnson Has Said Red One Is ‘Jumanji’ Meets ‘34th Street’

Though the specifics about Red One and its story have yet to be revealed, Dwayne Johnson gave his millions (and millions) of social media followers a quick tease about the upcoming Christmas movie back in November 2022 with an extremely on-brand Instagram post with a caption reading:

That little teaser, which was filled with some of the best Christmas movies of all time, will have to do for now. However, if the action is as epic as the behind-the-scenes photos in the post make it seem, this is going to be one heck of a ride.

Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle Director Jake Kasdan Is Helming Red One

Although this will be the first time Johnson has appeared on screen with Chris Evans, the wrestler-turned-actor has quite a history with the filmmaker who has been put in charge of directing the upcoming Christmas action comedy. In January 2022, Variety reported that Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Jumanji: The Next Level director Jake Kasdan, the son of legendary filmmaker Lawrence Kasdan, was put in the director’s chair, making it the third time he has worked with Johnson.

Kasdan isn’t the only person involved with Red One who has worked with Johnson in the past, as the screenplay was written by someone who worked on multiple Fast & Furious movies. In June 2021, The Hollywood Reporter announced that Chris Morgan, who wrote every movie in the high-octane film franchise from 2006’s The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift to Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, was handling the script duties for the upcoming Christmas action comedy. The story on which the Red One screenplay was based was originally pitched by Seven Bucks President of Production Hiram Garcia, according to the outlet.  

While we wait for Red One to hit theaters later in 2024, check out the 2025 movie schedule to figure out what’s coming out next year.