Dwayne Johnson said a screening of “Oppenheimer” in Imax inspired him to make sure his new Christmas action movie, “Red One,” would be able to play in the premium large format. Johnson sat in the same Imax screening room that Christopher Nolan uses to screen his movies and was blown away by “Oppenheimer.” Naturally, Johnson thought if “Red One” utilized the same Imax technology it could be “game over.”
“With ‘Red One,’ our intention was to make a movie that you can enjoy on the biggest screen possible,” Johnson recently told Imax in a video interview. “Legitimately the biggest screens possible are Imax. I was midway through shooting ‘Red One’ and I had an opportunity to see ‘Oppenheimer.’ I watched in the Imax theater where Christopher Nolan watches and screens his movies. Him and Emma [Thomas], his wife. I even asked to let me sit where Chris sits. They said, ‘Chris sits here.’”
Johnson continued, “I watch ‘Oppenheimer.’ It was amazing, but I was thinking: ‘Holy shit. “Red One” on this screen and with this technology could be game over.’ I remember texting [director Jake Kasdan] a picture of my bare chest and a picture of the screen and we realized how cool [Imax] would be.”
Unfortunately, it does not appear “Red One” is turning into an Imax-sized event like “Oppenheimer” was in summer 2023. The Nolan-directed WWII epic earned nearly $1 billion at the worldwide box office and picked up Oscars for best picture and best director, among other wins. Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. were awarded the prizes for best actor and best supporting actor, respectively.
“Red One,” meanwhile, cost a reported $250 million to make and only earned $26 million in its launch at the international box office. The movie opens in U.S. theaters on Nov. 15 and is tracking for a soft opening in the $20 million range. “Red One” has also been widely panned by critics, with Variety’s Owen Gleiberman writing in his review: “I’m not sure that a Hollywood movie has ever kicked off the season with less true Christmas spirit…Directed with charmless energy by Jake Kasdan, ‘Red One’ is at once an action movie; a kidnap-rescue thriller in which the doors to supply closets in toy stores are mystic portals; and an exercise in Christmas world-building.”
Amazon MGM Studios is opening “Red One” in theaters domestically.
