Jan. 7, 2025

Red One, How Christmas Lore is brought to modern audiences. Does Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson save Christmas?

Join us as I, Aaron Davies, introduce my new co-host, Adam Brasher, to the Fandom Portals family. Plus, meet Ace, Adam's loveable husky, who has enthusiastically claimed the role of our show's unofficial mascot.

We then shift our focus to the holiday blockbuster "Red One," where we dissect its unique take on Christmas lore with a lively discussion. Picture J.K. Simmons as a super-speed Santa and Christopher Hivju's feisty portrayal of Krampus—it's as thrilling as it sounds! Listen as Adam and I engage in a trivia showdown, revealing fascinating tidbits about the film's Greek-inspired roots and its hefty budget. We also delve into the film's narrative around accountability, particularly analyzing Chris Evans' character, Jack O'Malley, whose journey from hacker to redemptive father offers intriguing fodder for potential sequels.

Our conversation takes a closer look at the broader industry implications of "Red One," pondering its financial performance and its standing among other Christmas franchises. We critique everything from the film's extravagant CGI and action sequences to its pacing and storytelling devices, offering a balanced view of its strengths and weaknesses.

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Chapters

00:00 - Introduction to Red One Movie Review

13:13 - Krampus and Santa in Red One

20:21 - Exploring Accountability in Red One

28:53 - Exploring Jack O'Malley's Mythological Origins

36:00 - Red One Budget and Christmas Franchises

47:23 - Analysis of Red One Movie Themes

58:45 - Visually Stunning CGI and Action Analysis

Transcript

WEBVTT

00:00:00.281 --> 00:00:07.693
Hello and welcome to this episode of the Fandom Portals podcast, the show that explores how fandoms can help us learn and grow.

00:00:07.693 --> 00:00:17.375
I'm your host, aaron Davies, and this is a very special episode for you, fandom Portaleers, because in this episode you will be able to meet our new co-host.

00:00:17.375 --> 00:00:20.586
Our new co-host is none other than Adam Brasher.

00:00:20.586 --> 00:00:23.274
Adam's guested on the show before.

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He's a very special friend of mine we did a Dungeons and Dragons podcast before the Fandom Portals podcast and he lives in the same hometown as I do, so we're doing our recordings in person and this was the first time we actually got to sit down to do a recording together as co-hosts.

00:00:40.386 --> 00:00:41.969
So we hope you enjoy it.

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We also are excited to introduce you guys to, through this episode, our fandom portals mascot unofficial, of course, but there is a young pup by the name of Ace who lives at Brash's house and he has he's present for all our recording sessions, so he's now unofficially our mascot for fandom portals.

00:01:02.347 --> 00:01:08.768
He's a very quiet, husky, and you'll get to hear a little bit about him in the entry point of the show, so stay tuned for that.

00:01:09.140 --> 00:01:16.549
But this episode here, more specifically, is all about the Christmas movie, the Christmas blockbuster, rather Red 1.

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In this movie, we hope that you will learn about the theme of accountability for all those naughty listeners out there.

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We will also deep dive onto Christmas lore and pitch potential futures for Jack O'Malley or Chris Evans' character.

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Was he mythic or was he mundane?

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We answer and talk about those questions in the podcast to come.

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And, lastly but not least, we also have a little bit of a chat about the current state of Hollywood in terms of big budget movies like this action blockbuster, which had a very inflated budget, and how movies tend to make a profit in 2024.

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So Brasher and I are very excited to share this journey with you.

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Brasher will be featuring on a lot of different episodes now as my official co-host for the Fandom Portals podcast.

00:02:00.900 --> 00:02:05.030
This is me also officially welcoming him.

00:02:05.030 --> 00:02:18.927
If you're listening, brasher, which I know that you are, thank you so much for taking the leap and joining me in the podcasting journey of the Fandom Portals space, and I hope that you enjoy your time as much as I enjoy making these podcasts and having chats with you as well.

00:02:18.927 --> 00:02:23.826
So, to our audience, thank you so much for sticking around with us so far during this busy period.

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We definitely appreciate it and stick around to the end of the episode, because, if you love this podcast as much as we do, or you find it very interesting or you take something from it, we have some brand new ways for you to get involved with the fandom portals, and we love our community here and we want you to be a part of the show as well.

00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:54.246
So, without any further ado, I would like to introduce you to Adam Brasher, the new co-host of our podcast and the episode that we created featuring the Christmas blockbuster, red One.

00:02:54.246 --> 00:03:16.995
Hey everybody, it's Aaron here from the Fandom Portals podcast, and I'm here with Brash, my brand new co-host, and we're here to talk about Red One today.

00:03:16.995 --> 00:03:17.574
How you going, brash?

00:03:17.574 --> 00:03:19.395
Woo, yeah, not bad, not bad.

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A bit of Christmas spirit on the way.

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Oh, yeah, love to see it, especially during the week of the year where nothing really exists.

00:03:25.239 --> 00:03:30.622
That time from Christmas to New Year's is just dead timed, though I'm still working, unfortunately.

00:03:30.622 --> 00:03:32.548
No way, you're still working.

00:03:32.548 --> 00:03:34.432
Yeah, I have to work tomorrow, goodness me.

00:03:34.432 --> 00:03:37.306
Well, that's the good part about being a teacher.

00:03:37.306 --> 00:03:43.007
You know you get this time off and you get, you know, spend some time with family, which brings us to our first segment.

00:03:43.068 --> 00:03:46.132
It's going to be a continuation, going to start most of our shows this way.

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We're going to talk about our gratitudes and our growths and it can be something that you're grateful for for the week.

00:03:52.526 --> 00:03:54.033
It can be something that you feel like you need to improve on for the week.

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It's just a way for our fans to get to know us and also just to get the ball rolling on the show.

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So for me I'll start off I am grateful at the moment because I have discovered Lorcana.

00:04:01.990 --> 00:04:02.971
I talked to you about this before.

00:04:02.971 --> 00:04:12.628
Lorcana is a Disney trading card game and I'm playing it with my partner, my wife, at the moment, and it's just some nighttime fun after the kids go to bed, and the Disney cards, just.

00:04:12.628 --> 00:04:23.586
It's fed my collection mentality where I just really need to complete a list, and it's safe, it's harmless and it's something I can play with my kids later on when they get a bit older.

00:04:23.586 --> 00:04:28.401
So that's what I'm grateful for, um this week that I found something new, a new hobby, because I needed more.

00:04:28.401 --> 00:04:28.882
What about?

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yourself.

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I'm grateful for friends, actually, and a couple of.

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I.

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Had some dinner with a couple of friends that I haven't seen in four years and, um, just getting to see them again sort of renewed my I don't know spiritual a little bit Been shut in a lot lately and just working heaps, and so getting out and being with friends was like just a really nice change of pace.

00:04:49.925 --> 00:04:52.882
Yeah, connecting with people, that's a good one, especially this time of year as well.

00:04:52.882 --> 00:04:56.766
Oh, 100%, yeah, here's me saying like I'm happy I found a card game.

00:04:56.786 --> 00:05:06.714
It was like friendship is really time of year Also me because, like, all my family is in Victoria, all down south, so it's only really me up here.

00:05:06.714 --> 00:05:08.737
Yeah, and like, even on Christmas day I had a friend.

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They invited me out to a big lunch buffet for Christmas.

00:05:13.149 --> 00:05:15.353
Oh, wow, that's awesome, that's so good.

00:05:15.353 --> 00:05:18.242
And you know we're joined here today by our third unofficial co-host.

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His name's Ace.

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He's Brash's dog.

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Do you want to tell us a little bit about him?

00:05:23.089 --> 00:05:26.233
Yeah, so he is not all 10 months.

00:05:26.233 --> 00:05:30.466
10 months now, no, 9 months, sorry, 9 months to be 10 months in 10 days.

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He is a husky.

00:05:31.630 --> 00:05:37.824
He is black and white and he is very quiet for a husky he is.

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He doesn't howl, bark, yap nothing, talk at all.

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He is just very, very silent.

00:05:45.384 --> 00:05:46.408
He's a placid little boy.

00:05:46.660 --> 00:05:51.985
Yeah, but if you do hear him from time to time on the podcast, just know that's our third co-host, just have a little chime in for the day.

00:05:51.985 --> 00:05:56.764
And yeah, we're going to show some pictures of him on our social media as well.

00:05:56.764 --> 00:06:01.009
At times as well, if his daddy says it's okay, got to get that permission, you know.

00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:02.060
He'll be fine.

00:06:02.060 --> 00:06:02.581
I actually need.

00:06:02.581 --> 00:06:04.846
I need to start up his own Instagram thing.

00:06:04.846 --> 00:06:07.512
So I've got like hundreds of photos of him.

00:06:07.672 --> 00:06:08.874
Well, that'd be good.

00:06:08.874 --> 00:06:15.173
Yeah, we can definitely have him feature on the Fandom Portals podcast page for sure, cause everybody loves dogs, all right.

00:06:15.173 --> 00:06:20.341
So during during that segment, sometimes we'll do some gratitude, sometimes we'll do some growths, sometimes we'll do both.

00:06:20.341 --> 00:06:23.245
It's up to us what we want to sort of share at the time.

00:06:23.245 --> 00:06:31.242
But, yeah, no, going home today because we've got a podcast to record and our first official segment as a pairing of co-hosts is going to be called First Takes.

00:06:31.242 --> 00:06:53.779
All right, so First Takes is a segment where we discuss how we found out about the movie that we're talking about today, or we discussed our initial impressions of the movie before having seen it, and then we can also talk a little bit about how we felt after watching it, but not going into that review territory, because that sort of comes a little bit later.

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So obviously, the movie that we're talking about today is Red One.

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Cool place.

00:07:03.714 --> 00:07:05.706
Welcome to the north pole, come again.

00:07:05.706 --> 00:07:12.514
Last night, red one, also known as saint nicholas of myra, was abducted.

00:07:12.514 --> 00:07:18.750
Are you saying santa claus has been kidnapped?

00:07:18.750 --> 00:07:20.913
You're the best tracker in the world.

00:07:20.913 --> 00:07:22.240
You're gonna help us find him.

00:07:22.240 --> 00:07:23.023
I work alone.

00:07:23.023 --> 00:07:23.764
You used to.

00:07:23.764 --> 00:07:27.949
I'm not going to like you.

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I can tell right away out of everyone here, I like you the least.

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Garcia.

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What the hell Should we do the thing I'm afraid we're going to have to?

00:07:48.259 --> 00:07:48.882
You're mine until we find him.

00:07:48.882 --> 00:07:49.524
Oh God, I suggest you get going.

00:07:49.524 --> 00:07:49.663
Clies.

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It is a Christmas holiday comedy action adventure flick.

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It came out this year, in 2024, rated PG, starring Dwayne the Rock Johnson, chris Evans, lucy Lou and JK Simmons Brash.

00:08:00.500 --> 00:08:01.565
I'm going to kick off with you.

00:08:01.565 --> 00:08:03.747
What was your first take of this movie?

00:08:03.747 --> 00:08:04.925
How did you find out about it?

00:08:04.925 --> 00:08:05.444
What was your first take of this movie?

00:08:05.444 --> 00:08:05.468
How did you find out about it?

00:08:05.468 --> 00:08:06.317
What was your first impressions of it?

00:08:07.420 --> 00:08:26.863
Well, actually I first heard about it because of wrestling, because I recently got back into wrestling and obviously the Rock had his he came back a bit last year, so they do love promoting things that wrestlers are in and because the Rock still pretty much is a part owner for of the wwe.

00:08:26.884 --> 00:08:39.466
Yeah, it was all of the ads for wrestling, so I saw a fair bit, yeah they're hit and miss with some people, hey, so initially your first impression of it was seeing it there and then you thought, oh, christmas movie is that it I.

00:08:40.269 --> 00:08:43.763
I saw it and went oh look, it's jumanji, but christmas funny.

00:08:43.783 --> 00:08:48.450
You should say that because it's actually written by or directed by the guy who did the first two Jumanji movies.

00:08:48.450 --> 00:08:53.904
That being said, you know Holiday Blockbuster this is what I thought of it initially.

00:08:53.904 --> 00:08:57.629
This is my first take, holiday Blockbuster starring the Rock.

00:08:57.629 --> 00:09:01.388
It's got Chris Evans in it, so obviously there's that action duo.

00:09:02.369 --> 00:09:12.255
Initially I kind of looked at it and thought it was like a bit of a piss take, honestly, because Christmas movies to me don't really resonate with this kind of vibe that it portrayed on the poster or any of the ads that I saw.

00:09:12.255 --> 00:09:21.941
They aren't really action-packed, they aren't flashy or anything like that in terms of action or punching sequences or anything like that.

00:09:21.941 --> 00:09:30.301
But this movie just seemed that little bit different and I also knew that it was probably a high budgeted film because the marketing for it was literally everywhere.

00:09:30.301 --> 00:09:32.287
Like you said, it's cross-contaminated into wrestling.

00:09:32.287 --> 00:09:44.985
You go into your imdb app for me this is where I discovered it and it was literally on on the banner ads for imdb as well and um, and if you're a person that has prime here in australia, get the coming soon stuff, and I saw it there as well.

00:09:44.985 --> 00:09:52.274
So I was like, okay, well, that's the Christmas flick of the year Because I didn't really think I heard about very many other Christmas movies for this year.

00:09:52.556 --> 00:10:04.727
No, no, like there are always the Netflix ones, there's plenty of Netflix ones, and the biggest Netflix one I saw was one that had he used to be in One Tree Hill.

00:10:04.727 --> 00:10:09.605
Oh, one that had, um, he used to be in one tree hill.

00:10:09.605 --> 00:10:10.048
Oh, yeah, brothers.

00:10:10.048 --> 00:10:13.904
Chad michael murray, yeah, yes, and he where he works at a bar and then the chiller makes him end up being a stripper yeah, that's.

00:10:13.904 --> 00:10:15.751
That's the biggest I love, biggest one I've seen.

00:10:15.773 --> 00:10:16.716
So there you go.

00:10:16.716 --> 00:10:17.620
That's your competition.

00:10:17.620 --> 00:10:27.493
You've got one for the ladies, or one that's seemingly for the ladies and one that's for the the gentleman here with uh, with the red one so the ladies, if they're into the Rock and Chris Evans, that's true, that's true.

00:10:27.673 --> 00:10:28.053
True as well.

00:10:28.053 --> 00:10:32.529
So, in terms of initial impressions, I didn't really expect much.

00:10:32.529 --> 00:10:44.585
This definitely wasn't going to be a movie that I thought would stick in my brain and be one that I was going to continually talk about and re-watch, but that was my initial impressions.

00:10:44.585 --> 00:10:45.369
How about yourself?

00:10:45.369 --> 00:10:46.846
The only reason why.

00:10:46.927 --> 00:10:49.748
I would have thought that it would be a half-decent movie.

00:10:49.748 --> 00:10:54.251
It was literally because of JK Simmons.

00:10:54.251 --> 00:10:58.924
I saw JK Simmons and he was Santa and I was like, damn, I'm here for it.

00:10:59.306 --> 00:11:08.274
Yep, that's exactly right, and fun fact actually, this is the second time he's played Santa in a movie, the first one being he voice acted Santa in the movie Claus or Cloud.

00:11:09.341 --> 00:11:11.346
Claus, which is my favorite Christmas movie.

00:11:11.346 --> 00:11:13.806
Yeah, yeah, I watched that the other night.

00:11:14.005 --> 00:11:14.347
There you go.

00:11:14.347 --> 00:11:35.011
So yeah, I think JK Simmons returning for the Santa role is something that we might talk about a little bit later as well, but that cast, that star set of the cast, definitely is something that I saw as well, because the four of them were on the poster with that big polar bear at the back and you're like, okay, this has action movie vibes, because when the Rock's wearing his aviators, you just know that he's going to be punching people in that movie.

00:11:35.212 --> 00:11:35.475
Oh yeah.

00:11:35.475 --> 00:11:37.101
So like what, welcome to the Jungle.

00:11:37.101 --> 00:11:41.729
Same thing aviators, like sold timber posters.

00:11:41.769 --> 00:11:44.974
Yep, that's the way Perfect, perfect start.

00:11:44.974 --> 00:11:49.687
All right, so let's get into our next segment, which is called the fandom face off.

00:11:49.687 --> 00:12:05.284
So, with the fandom face off portion of the show, this is where brash and I treat each other to a piece of trivia about the show, just to ground us in the movie that we're talking about and to give you guys a little bit of information.

00:12:05.284 --> 00:12:14.371
If you haven't seen it, this may contain some spoilers as well, and the later sections of this podcast will also contain spoilers, also for the movie of Red One.

00:12:14.371 --> 00:12:20.245
So if you haven't seen it, or if you want to save it till next Christmas, definitely make sure you avoid hearing about those spoilers.

00:12:21.066 --> 00:12:33.927
That being said, this is a space where we give each other a trivia question or a piece of information about the movie Red One, and it's basically how we test to see how well we researched the movie before we talked about it, and it also gives you guys some context as well.

00:12:33.927 --> 00:12:43.094
So we each give each other three questions, we score them and whoever wins is treated to a monthly movie date between myself and the co-host, brash.

00:12:43.094 --> 00:12:51.352
And yeah, they have to shout snacks and shut the movie and and do all that all our scoreboards and things will go up onto our social medias.

00:12:51.352 --> 00:12:53.081
So if you want to keep track and see who's winning, definitely check that out.

00:12:53.081 --> 00:13:02.510
And, um, we might go with you first, brash, if you would mind giving us our first piece of trivia for the fandom face-off segment of the podcast for.

00:13:03.333 --> 00:13:12.812
Now this isn't totally confirmed because no one's really said anything about it, but only people who have studied languages and everything like that.

00:13:12.812 --> 00:13:24.604
So JK Simmons in the movie always shouts a word to make his reindeer go super speed Cavallame, cavallame, cavallame, yeah, cavallame, cavallame, cavallame, yeah.

00:13:24.604 --> 00:13:32.207
That word translated means to ride on.

00:13:32.609 --> 00:13:32.849
Yeah.

00:13:33.629 --> 00:13:35.450
Or to go forth.

00:13:35.450 --> 00:13:38.711
But other people are thinking that's a loose translation.

00:13:38.711 --> 00:13:50.018
Other people are thinking, because that first portion of it, cava, is where the Christmas actually originally started Ah yeah, was situated Yep yep.

00:13:50.018 --> 00:13:55.879
So they sort of brought that whole St Nicholas sort of thing from Cava, from there.

00:13:56.179 --> 00:13:58.085
Into the word that he says the most His reindeers.

00:13:58.085 --> 00:14:00.432
That's interesting, that's good, right?

00:14:00.432 --> 00:14:07.443
So Cavallame was the word, obviously, that JK Simmons says, and he always says that with such power hey, through the movie he just yells.

00:14:07.443 --> 00:14:11.125
It really well, gets you hyped up, always followed by that.

00:14:11.125 --> 00:14:15.408
You know that zoom out, that you see, and the flashing lights, that just gets you straight into it.

00:14:15.740 --> 00:14:18.950
I loved how the rain is, but I also loved how they glowed.

00:14:18.950 --> 00:14:21.201
Yeah, yeah, whenever they were going to go, it just went.

00:14:21.201 --> 00:14:23.524
Orange yeah, absolutely, they were going to go, it just went orange?

00:14:23.543 --> 00:14:25.225
Yeah, absolutely, just boom straightforward.

00:14:25.225 --> 00:14:28.830
All right, my question for you, brash.

00:14:28.830 --> 00:14:42.412
Okay, so this movie was directed by a person whose name was Jake Kazdan, and he is famous because he has collaborated with the Rock before on two other pretty decent action flicks.

00:14:42.412 --> 00:14:44.100
Do you know what they are, will?

00:14:44.241 --> 00:14:44.946
that be Jumanji and.

00:14:44.966 --> 00:14:45.448
Jumanji 2?

00:14:45.448 --> 00:14:48.067
That is Jumanji 1 and Jumanji 2.

00:14:48.067 --> 00:14:50.568
So you actually get a point now because you got the question correct.

00:14:50.568 --> 00:14:59.662
So Jumanji 1 and Jumanji 2, this is Jake Kazdan's initial roles into action flicks and you can tell, as we talked about.

00:14:59.662 --> 00:15:07.054
You know, this is very much a similar vibe to those Jumanji movies, action blockbusters, this one with a holiday theme, a holiday throughout.

00:15:07.054 --> 00:15:17.885
So it was his next sort of hurrah and I also get the feeling correct me if I'm wrong but it felt like to me that they were going for the beginning of a franchise, yeah, a holiday movie franchise.

00:15:17.885 --> 00:15:19.746
So that's my first question.

00:15:19.746 --> 00:15:20.985
So at the moment it's 1-0.

00:15:20.985 --> 00:15:22.083
So your question?

00:15:22.104 --> 00:15:22.264
to me.

00:15:22.264 --> 00:15:32.493
When our dynamic duo go to see krampus, they are halted by some hellhounds and then saved by the distraction of a rubber chicken.

00:15:32.493 --> 00:15:33.825
What's the?

00:15:33.926 --> 00:15:34.788
name of that chicken.

00:15:34.788 --> 00:15:41.804
That's a good question, and you know what I don't remember, but tiffany comes to mind I'll give.

00:15:41.924 --> 00:15:42.625
I'll give you a hint.

00:15:42.625 --> 00:15:47.650
Okay, it's the name of a book show, is it Ellen?

00:15:48.171 --> 00:15:49.873
It is Ellen Like Degeneres.

00:15:49.873 --> 00:15:51.534
Wow, Is that a link?

00:15:51.534 --> 00:15:52.615
Like did they link that?

00:15:52.775 --> 00:16:00.767
I don't know, but I know she's being blasted a fair bit lately, yeah, but yeah, I don't know if it was a thing, but yes, the chicken's name is Ellen.

00:16:00.967 --> 00:16:01.760
Very good, there we go.

00:16:01.760 --> 00:16:02.402
So it's one.

00:16:02.402 --> 00:16:04.706
All Two questions down for Brash.

00:16:04.706 --> 00:16:07.011
Oh, one question down for myself.

00:16:07.011 --> 00:16:10.609
All right, so the next question for me.

00:16:10.609 --> 00:16:13.870
One of my personal favorite characters in the whole movie was Krampus.

00:16:13.870 --> 00:16:18.692
He is played by a very famous actor whose name is Christopher Hiview.

00:16:18.692 --> 00:16:21.808
He plays a very famous role in a Game of Thrones.

00:16:21.808 --> 00:16:23.124
Can you tell me what that role is?

00:16:23.124 --> 00:16:23.746
Brasher?

00:16:23.746 --> 00:16:28.705
Ooh, famous role in a game of thrones.

00:16:28.705 --> 00:16:29.466
Can you tell me what?

00:16:30.508 --> 00:16:31.289
that role is brasha.

00:16:31.289 --> 00:16:33.374
Oh, I'll give you a clue.

00:16:33.374 --> 00:16:34.596
He has red hair and a red bushy beard.

00:16:34.596 --> 00:16:35.937
Oh, oh, yes, the wild, wild man.

00:16:35.937 --> 00:16:36.578
What's his name?

00:16:36.578 --> 00:16:36.860
Brash?

00:16:36.860 --> 00:16:39.264
Oh, I'm mind-blowing.

00:16:39.264 --> 00:16:40.788
It's been ages since I watched game of thrones.

00:16:41.208 --> 00:16:45.465
It's tormund yes, one of the greatest characters in Game of Thrones.

00:16:45.465 --> 00:16:46.948
Oh, the funniest character in Game of Thrones?

00:16:46.948 --> 00:16:47.610
Yeah, completely.

00:16:47.610 --> 00:16:55.850
And he was unrecognizable as Krampus too, and I only knew because obviously I'm an IMDB freak and I obviously looked through that and saw his name.

00:16:55.850 --> 00:17:05.093
But yeah, that scene with Krampus in it and next realm or to the darker parts of Scandinavia, that was probably some of my favorite parts of this movie.

00:17:05.093 --> 00:17:09.886
So I had to include a question for you about Krampus in our Venom Face-Off.

00:17:09.886 --> 00:17:13.722
So that means it's one all with one question to go Brash, you're up.

00:17:13.722 --> 00:17:14.905
Last question Venom Face-Off.

00:17:15.633 --> 00:17:16.721
We just touched on this.

00:17:16.721 --> 00:17:19.684
I wonder if you can, I wonder if you know the full title.

00:17:19.684 --> 00:17:25.329
Okay, so they use Santa's full Greek title in the movie.

00:17:25.329 --> 00:17:28.044
What is it, santa's full Greek?

00:17:28.105 --> 00:17:28.546
title.

00:17:28.907 --> 00:17:29.048
Yep.

00:17:29.048 --> 00:17:34.790
So when Lucy Lou is talking about him, she actually calls him by his full.

00:17:35.732 --> 00:17:38.083
Greek title Saint Nicholas of Myer.

00:17:38.083 --> 00:17:39.467
It is yes.

00:17:39.527 --> 00:17:41.152
It is, yes, perfect.

00:17:41.152 --> 00:17:46.308
I wouldn't have got that, but I did rewatch this three times, so there's definitely a line that sort of stuck with me.

00:17:46.308 --> 00:17:57.327
St Nicholas of Myer and I did a little bit of research as well into the, the backstory of Christmas lore as well, so this movie was good for that, at least you know, coming off as a bit of a launching pad for that sort of research.

00:17:57.327 --> 00:18:05.133
Alright, last question for me how much money in US dollars was spent on the movie of Red One?

00:18:05.472 --> 00:18:09.405
Brash, I did look this up to try and remember it, but I've forgotten it already.

00:18:09.405 --> 00:18:11.227
It was like $6.

00:18:12.451 --> 00:18:13.132
I'll give you a clue.

00:18:13.132 --> 00:18:22.384
It is nine figures and it is over $100 million and it is under $400 million.

00:18:22.464 --> 00:18:23.286
Oh, is it 250?

00:18:23.809 --> 00:18:24.290
It's close.

00:18:24.290 --> 00:18:34.576
It's $350 million estimated US dollars and gross worldwide it only took 182 or 183 if you round up million dollars worldwide.

00:18:34.576 --> 00:18:37.563
So it didn't even make half of its budget back.

00:18:37.563 --> 00:18:54.018
That being said, I've got a little bit of information later on in some of our most valuable takeaway segments about that sort of budget issue and the state of Hollywood in that sort of budget space as well, but it does seem like the budget was a massive, massive amount of money to put onto a movie like this.

00:18:54.018 --> 00:18:55.271
What do you think they spent the most of it on?

00:18:55.271 --> 00:18:56.994
This isn't a question, this is just curiosity.

00:18:57.015 --> 00:19:04.650
100% CGI or CGI, or just even the publication, like the marketing.

00:19:05.330 --> 00:19:10.695
Marketing's huge, both absolutely correct Publication and marketing CGI.

00:19:10.695 --> 00:19:14.338
And also Dwayne the Rock Johnson's how I Love.

00:19:14.338 --> 00:19:26.430
So different sources I've found, but some people say that he was paid about $50 million, which makes him the highest grossing actor pretty much of all time, and other sources say he was paid between $20 and $30 million.

00:19:26.430 --> 00:19:30.671
Either way, a lot of money for a Christmas movie, brash, A lot of money, all right.

00:19:30.671 --> 00:19:36.275
So if we do a score check I believe it is two to me and one to you Is that correct?

00:19:36.275 --> 00:19:36.795
Do a score check?

00:19:36.795 --> 00:19:37.896
I believe it is two to me and one to you.

00:19:37.896 --> 00:19:38.478
Is that correct?

00:19:38.478 --> 00:19:38.959
That is correct.

00:19:38.959 --> 00:19:39.419
That is correct, okay.

00:19:39.439 --> 00:19:49.700
So for this round only, I am the victor of the fandom face-off, but obviously these challenges last for a month, so I will be definitely trying to keep my lead so Adam can shout me a movie at the end of the month.

00:19:49.700 --> 00:19:52.490
Sound good, sounds good, all right, okay.

00:19:52.490 --> 00:20:18.002
So for those of you that don't know, we are talking about Red One today and the basic plot of the movie I'll give you that before we move on is that, after Santa Claus, our most valuable takeaway, brash.

00:20:18.002 --> 00:20:21.819
Just so we know where we're coming from in terms of our space for this movie.

00:20:21.819 --> 00:20:23.094
Did you enjoy the film or no?

00:20:23.094 --> 00:20:24.578
I did.

00:20:24.578 --> 00:20:26.753
Yep, I feel a butt coming on.

00:20:27.135 --> 00:20:33.121
No, I did, but my butt can wait until probably the takeaways.

00:20:33.121 --> 00:20:36.800
Yep, but no, I didn't go in with high expectations.

00:20:36.800 --> 00:20:42.704
I wasn't disappointed, but I also wasn't blown away yep, and that's pretty much the same with me.

00:20:42.724 --> 00:20:44.471
I went into this knowing exactly what it was.

00:20:44.471 --> 00:20:45.575
It was a jumanji like flick.

00:20:45.575 --> 00:20:48.021
It was an action comedy set around christmas.

00:20:48.021 --> 00:20:52.611
That being said, I do have some expectations for christmas movies, which I'll get into a little bit with you later.

00:20:52.611 --> 00:20:56.961
But um, but yeah, um didn't, didn like it, didn't, hate it.

00:20:56.961 --> 00:20:57.883
So same with me.

00:20:58.410 --> 00:21:00.936
All right, let's move on to our MVT section.

00:21:00.936 --> 00:21:06.172
All right, so the MVT section is our most valuable takeaway.

00:21:06.172 --> 00:21:14.853
This is going to be the primary sort of section of the podcast where we talk about something that we can learn about based on this movie, or something that can help us grow in our everyday life.

00:21:14.853 --> 00:21:43.832
It could be something that you learned that is factual from the movie, or something you learned about different characters from the movie, or it can be something topically that you learned from the movie, or it can be something like an attribute that you feel like the characters displayed that you could then apply to your life, and we were talking before Brash about how this is really what you see is what you get kind of movie In terms of life lessons.

00:21:43.892 --> 00:21:48.785
There are some that they try to sort of pull through the movie, and we might start with one of my MVTs for this, and that is the message of accountability through this.

00:21:48.785 --> 00:21:50.531
So we all know what accountability is.

00:21:50.531 --> 00:21:59.996
It's basically taking responsibility for your actions, which seems to come up a lot at Christmas time, especially if you're a person that has anything to do with children during this time.

00:21:59.996 --> 00:22:11.277
There's that age old hollow threat that parents used to give back in the nineties, where Santa's watching and if you don't do the right thing, then you'll be on the naughty list, and that's something that features in this movie a little bit too.

00:22:11.277 --> 00:22:20.183
But I think accountability and the journey of accountability is really most poignant through the character of Jack O'Malley, which is played by Chris Evans.

00:22:20.183 --> 00:22:43.761
We're introduced to Jack and he is this notorious sort of hacker he's very well known in the dark web spaces of the world as the wolf and ruining a bunch of young ladies yoga sessions with a fire to break in and secure this dongle-like device to an astrology department of a university.

00:22:44.151 --> 00:22:47.859
Access meteorology to find seismic disturbances.

00:22:47.920 --> 00:22:51.920
Yeah, yeah, which is definitely the start of the Christmas movie that I expected.

00:22:51.920 --> 00:22:56.269
But yeah, I just thought as well we were talking CGI before, how they have this massive budget.

00:22:56.269 --> 00:23:02.756
But that little dongle thing that they had that just attached to a couple of wires and the green led light flash, that's the device he used to track down santa.

00:23:02.756 --> 00:23:03.438
That's all it takes.

00:23:03.438 --> 00:23:06.792
Um, so, so yeah, but that that's besides the point.

00:23:06.792 --> 00:23:07.275
I digress.

00:23:07.535 --> 00:23:08.597
So we're introduced to this.

00:23:08.597 --> 00:23:09.380
This very bad.

00:23:09.380 --> 00:23:12.011
He's a class four or a level four, naughty lister.

00:23:12.011 --> 00:23:34.712
Uh, as he's mentioned in the movie and through the journey of Christmas and through his interactions with none other than Dwayne the Rock Johnson, a pillar of morality, he changes his ways, he is held accountable for his actions and in one of the most poignant scenes of the movie, or one of the most intentionally heartfelt scenes of the movie, chris Evans who does have a son in this movie, a deadbeat dad, as he's described they're trapped in the.

00:23:34.712 --> 00:23:36.714
What's the word that they use for this?

00:23:36.714 --> 00:23:37.957
The snow globes?

00:23:37.957 --> 00:23:40.921
Yeah, the Glasgow fig.

00:23:40.921 --> 00:23:42.923
There, it is the Glasgow fig.

00:23:43.002 --> 00:23:43.523
Yep, there it is.

00:23:45.690 --> 00:23:51.090
So, yes, he, he is trapped in the Glasgow fig with his, his son, after really wanting nothing to do with him.

00:23:51.090 --> 00:23:57.123
We find out that it's because, you know, he feels like he is a bad influence or a bad role model for his son.

00:23:57.123 --> 00:24:04.320
And then he gives that beautiful speech about how he doesn't promise that he's going to do.

00:24:04.320 --> 00:24:09.136
He can't promise that he's going to get everything right, but he promises that he's going to try.

00:24:11.310 --> 00:24:20.477
Every day, every decision is an opportunity, and I want to start taking some of those.

00:24:20.477 --> 00:24:23.396
So I'm not asking you to believe me.

00:24:23.396 --> 00:24:26.398
I'm just asking for you to give me a chance.

00:24:26.398 --> 00:24:38.038
I know I may never be the greatest father in the world, but I know I can do better, and I'm telling you right now that I promise I will never stop trying.

00:24:40.030 --> 00:24:54.153
And I think, if nothing else from this movie, that element of trying and trying to be accountable more so for the important things in your life is something that is a good takeaway for me in terms of most valuable takeaways for this movie.

00:24:54.153 --> 00:24:59.818
So so, what did you think about the, the arc that chris evans's character had?

00:24:59.818 --> 00:25:09.084
I know we had a bit of a discussion before and you're very welcome to express that opinion um, about that sort of message of accountability and how.

00:25:09.084 --> 00:25:12.809
That's sort of a takeaway that I found and I think it was very intentional from the movie makers.

00:25:12.809 --> 00:25:29.442
There was, like this has to be, an emotional arc that we're doing here, and that message of accountability for me, or the importance of trying your best to not hurt other people's feelings, to not be on the naughty list anymore, is something that resounded with me.

00:25:30.050 --> 00:25:34.000
I, on the other hand, don't think that he needed to have a kid in that movie at all, or a family.

00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:40.498
Yep, I think the biggest thing is from the very start of the movie, when you see him as a kid.

00:25:40.498 --> 00:25:53.576
He was at his uncle's house, because I don't believe either his parents both passed away or something, but he was at his uncle's house and he seemed to be by himself.

00:25:53.576 --> 00:26:08.154
So I think him having a family doesn't have as much impact, because it should have been him going through a whole solo thing, saying, look, I'm happy on my own, I can do anything on my own.

00:26:08.154 --> 00:26:18.195
And then the fact that I also think that they could have turned him into his name, jack.

00:26:18.958 --> 00:26:19.358
Frost.

00:26:19.358 --> 00:26:27.701
Yeah, yeah, we spoke about this a little bit over message as well, the fact that Jack O'Malley's character could have had some mythological tie-ins.

00:26:27.701 --> 00:26:31.621
I think we'll circle back to that, because that's a really good point that I want to talk about at length.

00:26:31.621 --> 00:26:33.959
But if we're talking about his family, I kind of agree.

00:26:33.959 --> 00:26:40.076
I think that I just found that I've I found to be like it's almost like a side plot, wasn't it?

00:26:41.314 --> 00:26:45.258
Yeah, but it was also just a tiny side plot, like his son was in there.

00:26:45.258 --> 00:26:49.258
He had to pick him up from school once, yep, and he's like, oh, I'm going to a concert.

00:26:49.258 --> 00:26:50.776
And he's like, oh, great, cool.

00:26:57.550 --> 00:26:58.433
And then leaves, leaves.

00:26:58.433 --> 00:27:06.740
Yeah, he didn't really add anything to the story in terms of the overall narrative of red one, but but jack o'malley actually having a family also didn't really, um, like there are other ways that they could have explored that element of accountability without giving him that son.

00:27:06.740 --> 00:27:53.450
So, as you were saying before, I think him personally if he went on the journey on his own, uh, being that completely self-absorbed character and then moving into a space of actually being accountable and doing the right thing on your own and not doing it because you have to be that way for your child, because if you're not, then you're literally an asshole yeah, so there's literally no choice like it's never too late to do the right thing, which I think is probably a bit more poignant message at christmas yeah, time that like it's not, like it's not hard to be nice, like it's not like sometimes it's hard, but like um, being nice doesn't take away from anything.

00:27:53.830 --> 00:27:59.720
Yeah, and the fact that it's christ's Christmas time and the big thing about Rock.

00:27:59.720 --> 00:28:24.140
Rock's character, callum Drift yeah, how he was losing faith in the adults, yeah, and then for an adult to then turn around from being someone who the Rock was like I don't know if I can do this anymore because of these adults him actually teaming up with one of those adults and then that adult turning around and doing something good and renewing faith for the Rock.

00:28:25.671 --> 00:28:27.057
That, for me, would have been the message.

00:28:27.057 --> 00:28:42.640
Yeah, and I think they did try to do that, but they did that by inserting the character of Jack O'Malley's son into the picture, which, as you said, may not have been the most effective way, but I do think that they were trying to spur on moments of that accountability and how he's promising to try.

00:28:42.640 --> 00:28:46.800
That was the thing that sort of set him apart for me.

00:28:46.800 --> 00:28:50.940
But all right, so we'll go to your most valuable takeaway.

00:28:50.940 --> 00:28:53.538
Did you want to introduce that for us, Brash?

00:28:53.959 --> 00:29:06.060
Yes, so my takeaway was that between Jack Frost yes, I reckon it would have been cool to have made Jack a, not a mortal.

00:29:06.060 --> 00:29:07.666
Let's be honest.

00:29:07.666 --> 00:29:17.932
When they were fighting in Krampus' castle, jack and Roquefort were just beating down these demon guys and I'm like he's meant to be mortal.

00:29:17.932 --> 00:29:20.001
I'm pretty sure these dudes would just rip him apart.

00:29:20.001 --> 00:29:23.394
Yeah, but he's like nah, he's holding his own and he even gets a snowman.

00:29:23.394 --> 00:29:26.190
I was gonna say that even the snowman like he's holding his own.

00:29:26.190 --> 00:29:28.596
That's why the whole time I'm like, and his name's jack.

00:29:28.636 --> 00:29:37.663
I'm like this guy's jack frost jack is a extremely mythologically charged name, especially, especially around the Christmas mythos, jack Frost being one of them.

00:29:37.663 --> 00:29:49.913
And you know, jack Frost is notoriously like a cold, mischievous character who, like, loses his way, which is definitely what Jack O'Malley is In terms of this being.

00:29:49.913 --> 00:29:53.583
We talked about this being sort of like a franchise perhaps in the future.

00:29:53.583 --> 00:30:04.615
And the fact that this is, you know, may have been a franchise at the start of the movie when he's living with his uncle and that child just makes that offhand comment where it's just like, oh yeah, that's right, you don't know where your dad is.

00:30:04.615 --> 00:30:17.333
That's literally a tie, like in a second movie you could tie that back and say you know, his dad is actually Jack Frost and he is the son of a mythological creature and the son of a mythological creature and his mother and his Jack Frost father.

00:30:17.333 --> 00:30:22.276
Obviously, you know he's got all the traits of his father being Jack Frost.

00:30:22.276 --> 00:30:27.419
Another one that I looked up as well was, you know, jack O'Lantern.

00:30:27.419 --> 00:30:30.779
If they're going to make it a holiday franchise, they could bring something out on Halloween.

00:30:30.799 --> 00:30:33.201
Jack O'Lantern, who was?

00:30:33.201 --> 00:30:37.483
I did a little bit of looking up, but he was known as Stingy Jack through the mythology.

00:30:37.483 --> 00:30:54.115
Um, and you know, the mythology says that he he was notoriously good at um tracking people down and he was really tricky in terms of how he would uh, like the devil would actually track down Stingy Jack.

00:30:54.115 --> 00:31:09.842
And then they would go into these bars and they would drink and he would convince the devil to pay for his drinks and then, through doing that, the devil himself would turn the devil like the devil would turn himself into a coin and then Jack would place him as the coin next to a crucifix, so he couldn't change back.

00:31:09.842 --> 00:31:23.358
And then there was continual times that Jack O'Malley just sort of fooled the devil into him saying you know, one of the ways that I'll let you off this is if you promise that I never go to hell.

00:31:23.358 --> 00:31:25.491
And the devil was like yep, fine, no worries.

00:31:25.873 --> 00:31:32.694
So when Jack eventually passes stingy Jack eventually passes he goes to go to heaven and God won't let him in because of the sinful lifestyle that he led.

00:31:33.215 --> 00:31:38.152
And then when he goes to hell, the devil's like ah, ah, ah, I told you I'd never let you in here.

00:31:38.251 --> 00:31:54.635
So he has then been left in purgatory to walk the realm in between, not really belonging to anyone, always being a trickster, having a jaded lifestyle as a Jack O'Lantern and he is given this ember shard that he then puts into a turnip which eventually, eventually leads into a pumpkin through American history and and culture.

00:31:54.635 --> 00:32:07.134
But that could also be something that they bring out in a halloween movie, because he does portray some of the traits of jack o'lantern where he is pulling these tricks on krampus when they're in the, the cast of a krampus schlap, which is a great.

00:32:07.134 --> 00:32:09.578
I just love saying krampus schlap great.

00:32:09.578 --> 00:32:33.058
But yeah, I, I agree I think he could have been something a bit more than what he was and there's those questions and there's I think they definitely have that on the cards for chris evans's character yeah, yeah, just just instead of because I don't think they touched on the fact that a kid enough, or brought that emotional tie in enough for his arc with his kid to be enough.

00:32:34.060 --> 00:32:34.662
I know what you mean.

00:32:34.662 --> 00:32:40.180
Like there's pretty much nothing until the very end and then all of a sudden it's this soppy, oh, I'm going to be a better father thing.

00:32:41.061 --> 00:32:41.583
And then that was it.

00:32:41.583 --> 00:33:04.458
Also, honestly, after Callum and Jack go and find the contact that paid Jack O'Malley to track down Santa, which was Nick Kroll, after they found him, really Jack's character has no motivation to continue that quest to find Santa, other than he's being paid by the director, or Zoe Lucy Liu's character.

00:33:04.458 --> 00:33:11.109
So his usefulness also fades away after that moment as well, because he's supposed to be the best tracker.

00:33:11.109 --> 00:33:17.420
After that they go to the darker regions of Scandinavia, to Krampus' castle.

00:33:17.420 --> 00:33:25.227
His skill set is completely, if nothing else, it's, almost like a tag along, but also like a burden.

00:33:25.469 --> 00:33:25.589
Yeah.

00:33:25.750 --> 00:33:29.976
Because he takes from the treasure Trove which gets them caught, which gets them caught, gets them in trouble.

00:33:29.976 --> 00:33:35.009
And then it's almost like a way the filmmakers were saying let's show how tricky he is and how he's going to trick the devil.

00:33:35.009 --> 00:33:38.760
Because that's an element that we want to continue on into a future franchise movie.

00:33:39.911 --> 00:33:41.936
And the fact that you've got Mora.

00:33:44.111 --> 00:33:45.395
Yeah Mora, sorry the organization.

00:33:45.395 --> 00:33:46.038
Yes Mora.

00:33:46.789 --> 00:33:59.582
And they've already showed the Headless Horseman, yep, and the fact that and like oh, we're questioning the usual suspects, meaning there's a lot more things that they can end up touching on.

00:33:59.582 --> 00:34:09.900
So Jack might come back again because, I don't know, the Tooth Fairy's lost the piece or something, yep, something like that, and they have to bring Jack back in.

00:34:09.900 --> 00:34:14.061
So I think the Rocker paid so much because I don't think he's going to be in another one.

00:34:14.161 --> 00:34:20.219
Yeah Well, I think so too, because if they're going to do another one set around Christmas, definitely they'll have Calendrift come back.

00:34:20.219 --> 00:34:25.934
But I think Jack O'Malley, chris Evans is the through line for the franchise.

00:34:25.934 --> 00:34:37.623
If they're going to do one about Halloween, or if they're going to do one about, you know, easter, if they want to, or another Christmas one, whatever it is, jack O'Malley is obviously, or Chris Evans is the cheaper option to continue the franchise and the through line.

00:34:37.623 --> 00:34:44.027
But they can then introduce other star characters as well, without the rock and his exorbitant price tag that comes along with it.

00:34:44.188 --> 00:34:56.400
Yeah, yeah, because, like Jack, could just end up working for Mora tracking down rogue mythological creatures, exactly, he's got a lot of roles and usefulness in that space.

00:34:58.250 --> 00:34:58.590
And you know what?

00:34:58.590 --> 00:34:59.213
I'm not sure what the news is.

00:34:59.213 --> 00:35:00.896
We'll have to look into it and maybe post it on our social medias.

00:35:00.896 --> 00:35:03.572
But about any news about sequels?

00:35:03.652 --> 00:35:11.115
But given the takeaways and the budget for this movie, usually movies that perform in this manner don't really get the franchise tag.

00:35:11.115 --> 00:35:20.744
That being said, we'll move on to my next most valuable takeaway and that is, you know, the budgeting space that is in Hollywood at the moment.

00:35:20.744 --> 00:35:29.539
So usually back in the day when a movie was made, they'd have two chances to make money, and this is more of a factual takeaway than like an enlightening growth takeaway.

00:35:29.539 --> 00:35:34.518
So this is my learning takeaway, and I actually did a little bit of reading about the budget space in movies.

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That had two chances basically to make money off a movie, and the first was obviously in the box office when people would go to to make uh, to to see the movie.

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And the second space was on physical take-home media, which used to be through video stores or buying the DVD itself.

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Um, but that's all gone now.

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So that second payday really doesn't happen for actors in residuals because of streaming services.

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This was originally marketed as a streaming movie for Prime, but it tested so well with audiences that they released it onto theaters.

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But also, I feel like they released it onto theaters so they could make that initial payday money because they spent so much on the budget.

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That being said, a lot of the actors in this movie had increased salaries because negotiating deals between actors and studios used to include a back-end payment and in this instance obviously there wasn't going to be much back-end payment.

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So the Rock got paid his upfront, as did some of the other actors.

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They got paid their residual upfront, which inflated the budget of the movie.

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As a result of that, obviously they didn't make as much on the gross worldwide and it did go to streaming pretty early, which can affect your theater box office prices, as we saw with the Black Widow movie, which pretty much kicked off this trend as well, by the way, because of Scarlett Johansson's losses for that movie.

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