The Rock watched Oppenheimer in Christopher Nolan's IMAX seat and had an epiphany about Christmas car crash Red One: "It can be game over"
Nov. 14, 2024Dwayne Johnson had an unlikely source of inspiration
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Dwayne Johnson had an epiphany while he was watching Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer in IMAX that shaped the release of his Christmas movie Red One.
“I was midway through shooting Red One, I had an opportunity to go watch Oppenheimer, and I watched it in the IMAX theater where Christopher Nolan watches and screens his movies – him and Emma, his wife,” Johnson said in a promotional video for IMAX. “And I even asked, ‘Let me sit where Chris is sitting.’ So they said, ‘Chris sits here to enjoy the movie.’ So I sat where Chris sat, I watch Oppenheimer, it was amazing. And I was thinking, ‘Holy shit. This thing, Red One on this screen, with this technology, can be game over.'”
Oppenheimer grossed over $900 million at the box officeand won 7 Oscars, including Best Picture. Red One, meanwhile, currently stands at $28 million at the international box office (its US release date is November 15), and the movie has scored only 37% onRotten Tomatoes.
The Christmas movie sees Santa Claus,played by JK Simmons, kidnapped – and the North Pole’s head of security, Callum Drift (Johnson), sets out to rescue him. Drift also teams up with bounty hunter Jack O’Malley, played by Chris Evans.Reviews for the film have been pretty brutal, hence that low RT score.
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I’m a Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site’s Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.
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