Chris Evans’ recent run of bad luck has continued with Red One, but his future projects may turn his prospects around. Evans is a well-known star who is likely best known for his role as Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which he played from 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger through 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. However, he has also appeared in other well-known movies from the beginning of his career through his post-Marvel era, including 2001’s Not Another Teen Movie, 2005’s Fantastic Four and its 2007 sequel, 2010’s Scott Piglrim vs. the World, 2013’s Snowpiercer, and 2019’s Knives Out.
In spite of the star-studded Red One cast which also includes Dwayne Johnson, Lucy Liu, and J. K. Simmons, it has so far proved to be a box office disappointment. Although the other Thanksgiving season releases Wicked, Gladiator II, and Moana 2 are all enjoying record-breaking grosses, the holiday action-comedy has turned out a middling performance at best. In the face of its huge budget, which has been estimated to be roughly $250 million, it has only grossed $122.5 million worldwide at the time of writing, far from reaching its break-even point, which is likely more $625 million or more.
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2024’s Red One is a Christmas movie that sees the kidnapping and rescue of Santa Claus, with lots of action, comedy, and a bit of drama.
Chris Evans’ Latest Movies Have Been Badly Received, Including Red One
He Has Had A Long Run Of Rotten Tomatoes Splats
Red One‘s underperformance, both critically and commercially, is part of a recent trend for Chris Evans movies since he departed the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a leading star in 2019. Of the seven recent movies in which he had played a lead or co-lead, only two earned Fresh Rotten Tomatoes scores and one – Pixar’s Lightyear – was also a financial disappointment, grossing just $226.4 million against its $200 million budget. Below, see a breakdown of the Rotten Tomatoes scores received by movies that have featured the star in a major role since Avengers: Endgame:
|
Title |
Rotten Tomatoes Score |
|---|---|
|
The Red Sea Diving Resort (2019) |
28% |
|
Knives Out (2019) |
97% |
|
Lightyear (2022) |
74% |
|
The Gray Man (2022) |
45% |
|
Ghosted (2023) |
25% |
|
Pain Hustlers (2023) |
23% |
|
Red One (2024) |
31% |
The majority of Chris Evans’ recent Rotten Tomatoes splats, which includes a run of four Rotten movies since the debut of Netflix’s The Gray Man in 2022, come from movies that are in the action or action-comedy genres. This includes 2023’s Ghosted, in which he stars opposite Ana de Armas as a man who is unwittingly dragged into a globetrotting espionage adventure by a woman who he believes has ghosted him. The only exception is 2023’s Pain Hustlers, which is a Netflix crime drama about racketeering at a pharmaceutical company that also stars Emily Blunt, Andy García, and Catherine O’Hara.
Chris Evans’ Upcoming Movies Are Very Different
The Star Is Expanding His Repertoire
One thing that could spell good news for the Captain America star is the fact that his upcoming movies see him pushing the envelope and exploring other genres. At the time of writing, three upcoming projects starring Chris Evans have been officially announced. Only one of them – Sacrifice – is an action movie, and even that one boasts a particularly unique cast and premise. The movie, which is currently in production, stars Evans, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Salma Hayek, following a cultlike group attempting to sacrifice a movie star who is trying to make a comeback in order to save the world.
Sacrifice
is being directed by
Athena
‘s Romain Gavras.
The other movies to which Evans is attached are taking a path that feels even more different. This includes the romantic comedy Materialists, which also stars Dakota Johnson and Pedro Pascal and was directed by Celine Song, the Oscar-nominated writer and director of 2023’s Past Lives. His other project is the detective comedy Honey Don’t!, which is Ethan Coen’s follow-up to his 2024 movie Drive-Away Dolls and also features Margaret Qualley, Aubrey Plaza, Charlie Day, and Billy Eichner. It is said to be the second installment in what Coen described to Collider as a loosely interrelated “lesbian B movie trilogy.”
Chris Evans’ Upcoming Movies Can Remind Us Of How Good He Is
He Has More Than Proven Himself In The Past
The fact that Evans is exploring other genres does not necessarily mean that his new movies will be better received. This was proved by the critical performance of Pain Hustlers, which also comes with a middling – though Fresh – audience score of 65% on Rotten Tomatoes in addition to its Tomatometer splat. However, in addition to switching up his genre approach, all three upcoming movies come from respected filmmakers who could help guide his post-Marvel career down a more well-regarded path.
Ethan Coen is a four-time Oscar winner while Romain Gavras is a three-time Grammy nominee for his music video work.
These post-Red One movies could help Chris Evans reestablish his skills as an actor. While his recent choices have leaned toward more generic, and ultimately disappointing, projects, he has already proven himself as an actor in titles such as the 2017 family drama Gifted and the 2019 whodunit Knives Out, the latter of which also gave him the opportunity to play a character with multiple sides to his personality.
Source: Collider
After Santa Claus is kidnapped, the North Pole’s Head of Security (Dwayne Johnson) must team up with a notorious bounty hunter (Chris Evans) in a thrilling, globe-spanning mission to save Christmas. This action-packed holiday adventure mixes comedy and festive magic, with an ensemble cast that includes Lucy Liu and J.K. Simmons.
- Director
- Jake Kasdan
- Release Date
- November 15, 2024
- Cast
- Dwayne Johnson , Chris Evans , J.K. Simmons , Lucy Liu , Kiernan Shipka , Bonnie Hunt , Kristofer Hivju , Nick Kroll , Wesley Kimmel , Mary Elizabeth Ellis , Wyatt Hunt , Lanz Duffy , Marc Evan Jackson , Ashleigh Domangue , Cody Easterbrook , Jon Rudnitsky , Morla Gorrondona , Jenna Kanell , Rod Maxwell , Fedor Steer , Octavia Grace , Matthew Zuk , Cora Kass , Ahmad Ghafouri , Jeff Chase
- Runtime
- 123 Minutes
