RED NOTICE - Rock, Gal Godot, Ryan Reynolds - Universal Sells to Netflix

[AndyDursin]

Even with big stars (The Rock, Ryan Reynolds, Gal Godot), here's more evidence that if you're not a regurgitated franchise, you're not going to the multiplex anymore.

What's different about this sale is the film hasn't even been shot yet, so it's not like it's necessarily a POS a studio is just selling off to Netflix:

https://variety.com/2019/film/news/netf ... 203261569/

Netflix has taken over Dwayne Johnson’s action movie “Red Notice” from Universal Pictures and added Ryan Reynolds to the cast.

“Red Notice” had been in the works at Universal, but the studio announced Monday that it’s vacating the previously announced Nov. 13, 2020, release date in favor of an untitled event film.

Johnson reteams with his “Skyscraper” and “Central Intelligence” writer/director Rawson Marshall Thurber for “Red Notice” and plays an Interpol agent tasked with capturing the most-wanted art thief in the world.

The film will be produced by the returning “Skyscraper” team, including Beau Flynn for his Flynn Picture Co.; Johnson, Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia for their Seven Bucks Productions; and Thurber for his Bad Version, Inc. Scott Sheldon executive produces.

“Wonder Woman” star Gal Gadot came on board in April. Johnson is expected to get his first $20 million paycheck for the gig. Universal won a bidding war for the project last year in the wake of the surprise success of Sony’s “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” which starred Johnson with Kevin Hart.

In a statement, Thurber said, “I’m beyond thrilled to be making ‘Red Notice’ with Scott Stuber and Netflix — a company that believes in filmmakers and big ideas for a global audience.”

Johnson added, “With ‘Red Notice,’ our goal at Seven Bucks Productions was to break down traditional barriers and create a true global event for the audience. Netflix has illustrated that they are the perfect partners to accomplish this goal.”

“Red Notice” is set to begin principal photography in various locations in 2020. Netflix is also currently in development on “John Henry and the Statesmen” with Johnson attached to star and FPC and Seven Bucks Productions producing.

“Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” took in $962 million worldwide, but Johnson’s last two titles have been less robust. “Rampage,” released by Warner Bros. in April, 2019, grossed $426 million worldwide, and “Skyscraper” took in $304 million after its opening in July. The Netflix news was first reported by Deadline.

[Monterey Jack]

3.5/10



Well...it was certainly in focus.

This may as well have been titled Generic Movie Product. You know a movie is flat when it makes Jungle Cruise look like Raiders Of The Lost Ark. No thrills, no laughs (despite Ryan Reynolds spitting out canned one-liners like a trained monkey), and alarmingly little chemistry between its trio of photogenic but charisma-deficient leads. It also, despite the $200 million(!) supposedly dumped into it, looks cheap and slapped-together. A decade ago, a flat movie like the ersatz-Hitchcock thriller The Tourist may have lacked tension, romance and a compelling plot, but, dammit, they at least went to ACTUAL LOCATIONS to film it. I was bored for much of that film, but hey, those Venice canals...!

When will people learn that Gal Gadot, knee-weakening as her looks are, has not a whit of screen presence or charm? She got by -- barely -- in the first Wonder Woman because of the novelty of finally seeing that character realized on the big screen (and the fact that it was pretty entertaining overall), but last year's dismal WW sequel did her no favors, and she continues to be an attractively-draped mannequin. She's what Jessica Alba was in the mid-2000s, a carnally exotic found object whose spell is only dissipated when she opens her mouth to deliver stilted dialogue. Dwayne Johnson continues to mug and grimace, "acting" with his pecs and deltoids, and Reynolds is a talented comic actor who desperately needs good writing to really shine. When left to his own improvisatory devices, he just flails, delivering tossed-off "zingers" that land with a leaden thud. The Ramin-Gregson Jablonsky score is as generic as can be, the action sequences are dull, the F/X substandard, and the entire thing is as weightless as a dandelion seed. Movies like this feel even more disposable when they're dumped on a streaming service, as it would have felt somewhat more tangible had it been unspooling on 2500 screens this weekend instead of being something most people half-watch on the living-room couch while folding laundry.

[AndyDursin]

Funny this had a lot of novelty back in 2019 since it was one of the first streaming movies to get announced with a huge budget and big cast that wasn't going to theaters. Of course things changed due to COVID so the novelty is gone and it's one of any number of these endless things.

What's becoming more and more apparent are that movie stars today arent really stars -- they're more personalities pedaling their respective brands. The "Ryan Reynolds brand" and the "Dwayne Johnson" brand -- we all know what they are, and what they're going to do. Even Godot is the same at this point. Nobody even tries to give a performance in most of these movies. Show up, do your shtick, and move along.

I got bored watching the trailer so I'm not going to take the trouble of watching it.

[Monterey Jack]

What's becoming more and more apparent are that movie stars today aren't really stars -- they're more personalities pedaling their respective brands. The "Ryan Reynolds brand" and the "Dwayne Johnson" brand -- we all know what they are, and what they're going to do. Even Gadot is the same at this point. Nobody even tries to give a performance in most of these movies. Show up, do your shtick, and move along.

Thirty years ago, a middling star vehicle like, say, Bird On A Wire, would still make money because stars Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn had established personalities that shone through a thin script. These days, any movie that can't lean on being part of a recognizable IP can no longer stand on a star's appeal, as no one goes to movies based on the ACTORS anymore, they go based on the "brand". This is why Gadot's career will go nowhere when she ages out of playing Wonder Woman and can no longer pull off the dazzling, "exotic" ingenue thing. Ditto Johnson when he gets too old to pull off action roles. Chris Hemsworth is an actor with tons of raw charisma, but he's never been able to "sell" a movie outside of the MCU (and attempts at making him "funny" have been dismal failures). It's just sad to see that even major stars of the 80s and 90s like Tom Hanks have their latest films dumped onto some streaming platform, and it can't be pawned off on Covid anymore.