In November, Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans are teaming up for a holiday-themed action movie, and I’m already worried it will continue their streak of Rotten Tomatoes failures. Nowadays, an actor can be a huge star, yet still suffer from what is known as a bad Rotten Tomatoes streak. Though these numbers won’t make or break a career, they do say a lot about the projects an actor chooses. Namely, it’s much better to see good Chris Evans movies rather than poorly received ones.

Unfortunately, Johnson and Evans are two beloved actors suffering from negative Rotten Tomatoes streaks at the moment, and I fear their next collaboration won’t help the situation. It can be difficult to tell whether a movie will succeed, but there are certain aspects of a film that offer hints. For example, a strong cast and crew can carry a movie to success, even if the story itself seems lacking. Johnson and Evans’ movie has this. Yet, when a movie’s trailer finally gives audiences a first glance at the film, this can completely derail what seemed to be a solid project.

Red One Looks Set To Continue The Rock & Chris Evans’ Poor Rotten Tomatoes Streaks

Red One Looks Too Serious For A Comedy

The main reason why I’m nervous about Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans’ movie is because of the Red One trailer. At first, the film looked like it had strong potential. Johnson and Evans were just two of a star-studded cast, including J.K. Simmons, Lucy Liu, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, and Kiernan Shipka. Though the premise seemed somewhat goofy, I thought I could put my faith in these actors. However, now that the trailer has premiered, my hopes have fallen completely. What could have been a hilarious action hit now looks like an overly serious romp.

On its own, this premise is a bit silly, but with the right tone, I could have been sold.

The Red One movie follows Johnson as Callum Drift, the head of security at the North Pole. After Santa is kidnapped, he must team up with a famous bounty hunter, Evans’ Jack O’Malley, to track down the red-suited icon and, I assume, save Christmas. On its own, this premise is a bit silly, but with the right tone, I could have been sold. Unfortunately, the trailer seems to have the completely wrong idea. It seems as though the entire project is taking the movie’s concept much too seriously, causing the tone to feel off.

Dwayne Johnson’s 2020s Rotten Tomatoes Record Explained

Jungle Cruise, Black Adam, Red Notice

I predict that Red One won’t do very well when it premieres in November, which is disappointing considering Dwayne Johnson’s recent Rotten Tomatoes scores. Though the actor has accumulated several highly successful movies that I love, the last few years have not been as strong. For example, in 2021, Johnson starred in two movies: Jungle Cruise and Red Notice. Though Jungle Cruise garnered a rather average score of 63%, Red Notice was a flop. The action film earned a measly 37%. I have to say that the following years haven’t been much better.

While 2022 started with a minor success for Johnson via DC League of Super-Pets, which earned a solid 72%, the second half of the year came to a screeching halt with Black Adam. The superhero movie earned a 38%, giving Johnson a second green splat score in just two years. I think this failure is even worse than the others because Johnson was the complete star of that film. Where Red Notice and Jungle Cruise included significant co-stars, Black Adam’s Rotten Tomatoes rested entirely on Johnson. Thus, this Rotten Tomatoes score makes Red One’s potential failure even worse.

Chris Evans’ 2020s Rotten Tomatoes Record Explained

The Gray Man, Ghosted, Pain Hustlers

I hate to say it, but Chris Evans’ streak is even worse. Like Johnson, recent years have not been so kind to Evans. Since 2019, the actor has earned four green splat scores. The first came with the movie Red Sea Diving Resort, which earned a 29% critics’ score. Three years later, Evans continued the streak with three disappointments in a row. The Gray Man garnered a 45%, Ghosted a 25%, and Pain Hustlers a 23%. As much as it pains me, I have to assume that Red One will only add to this trend.

In the end, I hope that my intuition about Red One is wrong. Trailers offer a sense of what a movie will be, yet they can often show just a small picture of a greater project. Therefore, there is still a chance that Red One could be successful. For the sake of Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans’ Rotten Tomatoes, I hope it is. Both actors deserve a chance to turn things around, and a holiday movie would be the ideal project to do it.