Red One (2024)

The story begins 30 years ago, with a young Jack O’Malley (Wyatt Hunt) at a family Christmas party. He sneaks his cousins upstairs to show them their gifts, revealing that their parents were behind them, not Santa. Jack’s Uncle Rick (Marc Evan Jackson) catches him and scolds him for ruining the magic.

Fast forward to the present day, and Jack (Chris Evans) is now a skilled tracker. He sneaks into a mall by setting a Christmas tree on fire as a distraction and planting a device inside. To top it off, he steals candy from a baby.

Meanwhile, Santa (JK Simmons) and his bodyguard, Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson), are at the mall for Santa’s annual gig. Santa is disgusted by the greed and chaos of the holiday shoppers, and Callum steps in to protect the family from an obnoxious influencer. Callum’s job is to keep Santa safe, no matter what.

Back at Jack’s apartment, he talks to his mysterious employer, who gives him half of the payment for his tracking job. They promise to pay him the rest once they’ve tracked down who they need.

Santa and Callum return to the North Pole, hidden by a magic forcefield. They greet Mrs. Claus (Bonnie Hunt), and Callum reveals to Santa that he’s planning to retire due to his disillusionment with the holiday. Santa tries to reassure him that the magic is still real. However, things take a dark turn when mercenaries break through the forcefield and kidnap Santa. Callum gives chase on a snowmobile but fails to catch them.

Zoe Harlow (Lucy Liu), Director of MORA (The Mythological Oversight and Restoration Authority), contacts Callum about the kidnapping. She insists they need to find Jack, the expert tracker known as “The Wolf,” as they only have 24 hours before Christmas Eve.

Jack is then contacted by his ex-wife, Olivia (Mary Elizabeth Ellis), because their son, Dylan (Wesley Kimmel), got into trouble at school. Dylan tried to hack into the school’s PA system but got caught when a friend ratted him out. Jack scolds Dylan, not for the crime, but for doing it poorly. Dylan, uninterested in his dad’s advice, says he doesn’t care if Jack shows up to his concert that night. Jack, regretful of his role as an absent father, feels the weight of the moment.

Back in his apartment, Jack is ambushed by North Pole mercenaries. After a fight, Zoe subdues him and brings him to the North Pole, where Callum and a giant polar bear bodyguard, Garcia (Reinaldo Faberlle), confront him. Jack, labeled as a “Level 4 Naughty Lister,” explains that he was hired for the tracking job but didn’t know what or who he was tracking. He’s shocked to learn that Santa has been kidnapped. Zoe then reveals that all the mythological creatures thought to be fictional are real, and they’ve just witnessed the arrival of the Headless Horseman.

Santa wakes up in a cell and meets his captor, a young woman (Kiernan Shipka), who hooks him up to a machine that siphons his energy to power a magical weapon—a snow globe prison known as a “glaskafig.”

Callum and Jack, despite their differences, team up to rescue Santa and save Christmas. They start by entering a portal through a toy store, using a growing toy car as their ride. Their journey takes them to Aruba, where they track down Ted (Nick Kroll), the man who brokered the deal between Jack and the villain. After a fight with Ted’s goons, they discover that the villain is Gryla, the Christmas Witch. When Jack accidentally speaks her name, Gryla hears it and uses Ted to threaten Callum, vowing to punish everyone on Santa’s naughty list.

Soon after, an ice cream truck emerges from the ocean, releasing three giant, monstrous snowmen. Jack and Callum try to fight them, but the snowmen keep reassembling. Callum destroys one by knocking off its nose, while Jack uses a propane tank to create an explosion that obliterates another. The third snowman tries to trap Jack in a frozen pool, but Callum takes its nose off, too. Unfortunately, Ted is frozen in the process and can’t help them further. Zoe meets up with the duo, and Callum suspects Santa’s estranged brother is working with Gryla. However, MORA doesn’t have the jurisdiction to go after him, so Callum and Jack decide to sneak into the brother’s lair.

Meanwhile, Gryla tests out the glaskafig on a man named Aaron Able (Matthew Cornwell), who touches the globe and gets trapped inside. Upset when the globe doesn’t return to her, Gryla shifts her plans.

Jack gets a call from Olivia, who scolds him for not attending Dylan’s concert. Jack talks about his regrets as a father with Callum, acknowledging his shortcomings.

The two finally reach Santa’s brother’s lair, only to discover it’s Krampus (Kristofer Hivju). Jack accidentally alerts Krampus and his minions to their presence when he tries to steal a piece of gold. The pair are imprisoned and brought to meet Krampus. Callum tries to reason with Krampus, but the cold-hearted brother has no interest in helping. Krampus plans to keep Callum as a prisoner until Jack challenges him to a game called “Krampusschlap,” where he must endure a powerful slap from Krampus. After being slapped across the room, Callum keeps trying to appeal to Krampus’s better nature. Jack uses a special armbrace on Callum that allows him to slap Krampus back with incredible force, giving them the chance to escape. Callum praises Jack for his quick thinking.

When they return to their car, they find a package from Gryla addressed to Jack. He refuses to open it, but then receives a video call from Dylan, who’s angry Jack missed the concert. Dylan is left with a glaskafig of his own, and when he touches it, he’s teleported away. Jack is forced to grab his globe and follow, while Callum must track them down.

Jack and Dylan end up in Gryla’s lair, where she gloats over how the glaskafigs are working. After some tension, Jack apologizes to Dylan for being a bad father. Dylan forgives him, and Jack’s newfound ability to improve his “naughty” status allows them to grow and break free from the glaskafigs.

Zoe had secretly placed a tracker on Jack earlier, leading Callum to discover that he and Dylan are at the North Pole. This revelation shocks them because they realize that Gryla never took Santa away from there. Instead, Gryla’s shapeshifting goons have infiltrated the North Pole, disguising themselves as Mrs. Claus and other guards. With this new information, Callum locates Jack and Dylan, and they team up with Zoe to uncover Gryla’s true plan: she intends to use Santa to operate his sleigh and deliver magical globes around the world, imprisoning everyone she deems naughty. The heroes quickly spring into action, rescuing Mrs. Claus, Garcia, and others as they race to stop Gryla.

Gryla begins her escape from the North Pole, but Callum and Jack catch up to her sleigh in a dramatic chase. As they battle across a ramp, Jack unhooks the reindeer, stopping the sleigh from flying and sending Gryla tumbling over the edge. Callum attempts to wake Santa, but before he can, Gryla reappears in her true form: a massive, grotesque ogre. She prepares to attack, but just as things look dire, Krampus arrives in his own sleigh to join the fight. Though Gryla tosses Krampus around, he seems to enjoy it. Finally, Santa regains consciousness, summoning his reindeer to knock Gryla into the air and into a pile of globes, trapping her inside one. Zoe takes the imprisoned Gryla into custody.

With the immediate threat dealt with, the heroes rush to get Santa ready to deliver gifts. Callum, Jack, and Dylan join him as they travel the world, witnessing Santa spread joy and deliver presents to children everywhere. Callum watches Jack bond with Dylan, even seeing a glimpse of Jack’s inner child. This moment convinces Santa that Callum has changed his mind about retiring. Santa then flies them all home, bringing the holiday magic full circle.