For more than two decades, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has nurtured a reputation as a hard-working, musclebound action-comedy movie star with considerable box-office drawing power. But “Red One,” a high-powered Christmas crowd-pleaser for Amazon MGM, has turned into a massive budgetary misadventure, casting Johnson’s fame and work ethic in a different light.
Originally slated for release during the 2023 Christmas season, the “Red One” theatrical release has been delayed to November 2024 — supposedly due to last year’s labor strikes.
But the real story is a lot messier.
Production issues — ranging from Johnson’s chronic lateness and lack of professionalism on set to producers’ inexperience — caused costs on the movie costarring Chris Evans and J.K.