J.K. Simmons and Bonnie Hunt will be Santa and Mrs. Claus in Dwayne Johnson action comedy ‘Red One’

(L to R) Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans in Prime Video's 'Red One.'

If you were awaiting news of Dwayne Johnson’s big Christmas action movie to arrive like a gift in your news stocking, then we’re happy to play Father Christmas. But in the movie, it’s J.K. Simmons who will be Santa.

According to a new report from Deadline, Simmons and prolific actor/producer Bonnie Hunt (as Mrs. Claus) have both boarded the new movie, which has just started shooting.

Oddly, the trade site’s report claims that the movie, once called ‘Red One’, is now in search of a new title. Yet Johnson’s tweet about the news still refers to the ‘Red One’ title. So we’ll have to wait and see what it actually ends up being called.

The idea sprang from the brain of Hiram Garcia, who is Johnson’s producing partner in his Seven Bucks production company. But the person who brought the script to life has also worked with Johnson in the past – Chris Morgan, who wrote many of the ‘Fast & Furious’ movies, including its 2019 spin-off, ‘Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw.’

And the Johnson colleague roster also covers the director, as Jake Kasdan, who directed both ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’ and ‘Jumanji: The Next Level’, starring The Rock, is back for this film.

Details are still few and far between, and we don’t know, for example, what the actual story is. Prime Video, which snapped up the project in its early days, is hoping that it’ll turn into a new franchise for the streaming service and plans to sell merchandise through Amazon.

We can speculate from the first picture that Johnson might be some sort of agent or superhero given the suit, while Evans – who spent plenty of time playing Captain America in the Marvel movies –is in more civilian garb, layered up for the Holiday Season.

Simmons and Hunt join a cast that already includes Johnson, Evans, Lucy Liu, Kiernan Shipka, Kristofer Hivju, Nick Kroll, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, and Wesley Kimmel, though there’s no information on their roles just yet.

Oscar winner Simmons scored his award for ‘Whiplash’, though he has been nominated several times. He might be best known for playing J. Jonah Jameson in Sam Raimi’s ‘Spider-Man’ movies, reprising the role (albeit as a variant version) in the more recent ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ and ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’.

Hunt is known for her TV work, including an eponymous show and ‘The Building’. She’s also scored regular work voicing characters in Pixar movies.

‘Red One’ – or whatever the title changes to, doesn’t have a strict release date yet, but is likely to hit Prime Video around Christmas 2023.

(L to R) J.K. Simmons in Prime Video's 'Big Sky.' Photo: Chuck Hodes. Copyright: Amazon Studios.