After movies like Violent Night, Fat Man and the recent Red One, you’d think Santa movies with an action twist had reached their limit. However, the action icon, Arnold Schwarzenegger, now suits up to play Kris Kringle for the comedy The Man With the Bag, which also stars Alan Ritchson. The concept is similar to Red One, except this time, Santa loses his bag of presents and enlists a former thief to get it back. Adam Shankman (Hairspray, Rock of Ages, A Walk to Remember) directs The Man With The Bag from a script by Allan Rice (Stuck in the Middle, Call Your Mother, The New Adventures of Old Christine). The holiday-themed project hails from Amazon MGM Studios.
The former Terminator has posted a photo for this holiday that features him donning some Christmas-y threads from the set of the film. Arnold posts on his Instagram, “Santa Claus is coming to town! It is fantastic to be shooting The Man with the Bag with @alanritchson. Our director @adamshankman is one of the funniest directors I’ve worked with, New York City is an amazing host, working with @amazonmgmstudios is a joy, and I can’t wait to share all of this Christmas cheer with each and every one of you.”
Meanwhile, the Reacher star will next lead in an action film called Painter, which will team him with Prey star Amber Midthunder and John Wick writer Derek Kolstad. The story Kolstad has crafted for this film centers on a young woman, trained from a young age, who must employ every skill in her arsenal to rescue her father after he is kidnapped. Midthunder will, of course, be playing that highly skilled young woman. The hope is that this will end up launching a franchise, much like John Wick. The Kolstad-scripted Nobody also has a sequel coming our way, so he’s good at launching franchises.
Ritchson and Kolstad are producing Painter alongside Drew Simon of Infrared, Josh Adler of Circle of Confusion, and Dan Spilo of Industry Entertainment. Infrared is providing the funding. Simon gave the following statement: “Painter will be a seminal action hero film, making Midthunder into this generation’s Sarah Connor (Terminator). We loved Kolstad’s high-octane script, and we know with Garrett Warren at the helm this film will kickstart an exciting new franchise in the world of action.“