EXCLUSIVE: Chris Evans (Avengers franchise, Defending Jacob) is set to star opposite Dwayne Johnson in an upcoming holiday event film from Amazon Studios.
The film, which is currently titled Red One, aims to shoot this year. It is a globe-trotting, four-quadrant action-adventure comedy imagining a whole new universe to explore within the holiday genre. Plot specifics are under wraps.
The project stems from an original story by Seven Bucks Productions’ President of Production Hiram Garcia that Amazon Studios landed after a competitive bidding war last year. Jake Kasdan (Jumanji franchise) is directing from a screenplay by Seven Bucks Productions’ frequent collaborator Chris Morgan, who previously worked with them on such titles as Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw, The Fate of the Furious, Furious 7, Fast & Furious 6 and Fast Five.
Kasdan is producing through his production company The Detective Agency alongside Melvin Mar and co-producer Sky Salem Robinson, with Morgan for Chris Morgan Productions and Johnson, Hiram Garcia and Dany Garcia for Seven Bucks.
Johnson announced his involvement with the title, slated for a 2023 holiday release, back in June. It reunites him with Kasdan and his collaborators at Seven Bucks on the heels of their blockbuster successes with Sony’s Jumanji films Welcome to the Jungle (2017) and The Next Level (2019), which have collectively grossed $1.7 billion worldwide. While Johnson and Evans both appeared in Shawn Levy’s 2021 comedy Free Guy for Disney, Red One is the first film that the pair will topline together.
Evans is best known for his turn as Steve Rogers (aka Super Soldier Captain America) in the Marvel films Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War, Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame. The actor will next star in the Russo brothers’ film The Gray Man for Netflix, and as the voice of Buzz Lightyear in Pixar’s origin story Lightyear, which is set for release in the U.S. on June 17. He is also in development on an untitled Gene Kelly project, which he will star in and produce, and is set to star in the upcoming Apple feature Ghosted.
Evans also recently appeared in Adam McKay’s end-of-the-world comedy Don’t Look Up for Netflix, and in Mark Bomback’s Apple TV+ series Defending Jacob, which saw him portraying an assistant DA whose world was shattered when his son was charged with murder. Additional film credits include Knives Out, The Red Sea Diving Resort, Gifted, Before We Go, Snowpiercer, The Iceman, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Street Kings, The Nanny Diaries, Sunshine, Fantastic Four and Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
Evans is represented by 3 Arts Entertainment, CAA and attorney Jason Sloane; Johnson, Dany Garcia, Hiram Garcia and Seven Bucks Productions are repped by WME and Gang, Tyre, Ramer; Mar by WME; Kasdan by WME and Sloss Eckhouse Dasti Haynes LawCo; and Morgan by ICM Partners and McKuin Frankel Whitehead.