Alan Ritchson’s fans think Amazon just made Red One again with Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Man with the Bag’s trailer sparked immediate comparisons to Dwayne Johnson’s 2024 holiday film over their strikingly similar premises.
Fans can’t help but draw The Man with the Bag and Red One comparisons
Fans have already started drawing comparisons between Amazon MGM Studios’ upcoming holiday film The Man with the Bag and 2024’s Red One.
After the trailer dropped on September 30, social media users quickly pointed out the overlapping premises. One user on X responded to the trailer by asking, “Did they just make Red One again?” Another wrote, “Instead of Santa being stolen, his bag gets stolen. Hmmm… Red One, is that you?”
Both films share Amazon MGM Studios as their distributor and center on Santa Claus in an action-comedy setting. Red One follows Dwayne Johnson’s character teaming up with Chris Evans’ black-hat hacker to rescue a kidnapped Santa. The Man with the Bag features Arnold Schwarzenegger as Santa enlisting Alan Ritchson’s petty criminal to recover his stolen sack of presents.
The casting parallels add another layer to the comparison. In Red One, Chris Evans played Jack O’Malley, a hacker and bounty hunter with a criminal background. In The Man with the Bag, Alan Ritchson plays Vance, a local thief who helps Santa pull off a heist. Both films pair their Santa figures with rogues forced into unlikely holiday heroics.
The similarities have not gone unnoticed even weeks after the initial trailer reaction. One user commented on a newer trailer on November 3, writing, “That looks adorable! It does remind me of Red One a bit tho…” The conversation continues to surface as the December 2 Prime Video release date approaches.
Red One earned $186 million worldwide against a reported $200 to $250 million budget. Critics gave it a 29% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Adam Shankman directs The Man with the Bag from a screenplay by Allan Rice, with Awkwafina, Ken Jeong, and Jane Krakowski rounding out the cast.
