The reluctant team of FBI agent John Hartley (Johnson) and infamous art thief Nolan Booth (Reynolds) find themselves mockingly dubbed “work wives” by their alluringly elusive femme-fatale quarry, Sarah Black (Gadot), a.k.a. The Bishop. Having handily humiliated the duo in their initial encounter, Black affirms her current status as the world’s most wanted art thief bestowed by the titular red notice issued on her by Interpol. Of course, the pursuit will span sublime locations around the world amidst a bevy of banter as Reynolds’s Booth is essentially in full Deadpool mode—sans the suit and scars—with Johnson’s Hartley as the perpetually-patience-deprived foil who always seems ready to flex his bulky biceps to pummel him upon the next derisive quip. Will the duo catch their proverbial Carmen Sandiego? Check out the trailer for Red Notice just below to get a taste of the wild ride Netflix has in store for its subscribers. Interestingly enough, while Red Notice’s theater-bypassing Netflix exclusivity makes it seem like a typical pandemic-era release, its status as a streamer was actually sealed long before lockdowns and restrictions were even a thing. Indeed, it was first reported back in July 2019 that Netflix had dipped into its substantial coffers to acquire worldwide distribution rights to the would-be blockbuster, having also picked up a piece of the production pie shared with Universal Pictures, Legendary Entertainment and Johnson’s own Seven Bucks Productions. Likewise, upon the announcement of the film’s Netflix pickup, Johnson unambiguously thanked the streaming giant for what he called “its largest commitment ever to a feature film.” That’s because the initial acquisition by studios Universal and Legendary was the result of a heated bidding war. After all, the project’s power trio, Johnson, Reynolds and Gadot, were already firmly attached by this point, making it a most promising picture. Consequently, even a somewhat-educated guess that around $100 million total of Red Notice’s budget went to superstar salaries—thereby leaving as low as $30 million for the actual production—seems to bear a ring of truth regarding what was presented of the film in the trailer. Tellingly, the majority of the rather exotic-looking cinematic presentation was shot domestically in Atlanta, Georgia. With production having started in January 2020, the film was—like everything—affected by the early worldwide COVID lockdowns, but it eventually returned and wrapped in November, after which a mere week of supplemental shooting occurred across the pond in Rome and Sardinia, Italy. These circumstances do seem to line up with the film’s unique conundrum with its coffers. Red Notice makes its heralded arrival on Netflix on Friday, Nov. 12.
