It’s the most wonderful time of the year – a time for Christmas carols and concerts, trees and tinsel, mulled wine, open fires and of course The Rock (aka Dwayne Johnson). At least according to Hollywood. The action star’s latest film, Red One, has been playing in cinemas around the world since mid-November. But critics say it’s a bit of a stinker.

For those who missed it, the film was conceived as the first part of a Christmas action series. It stars Dwayne Johnson as Callum Drift, the commander of Enforcement Logistics and Fortification (ELF) at the North Pole – Santa’s security team.

When Santa Claus is kidnapped on Christmas Eve, Drift must team up with a group of Santa soldiers and mercenaries played by action heroes like Chris Evans and Lucy Liu. They all have to make their way through Lapland to defeat the evil forces that want to destroy Christmas.

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In the words of its own marketing team, Red One sells itself to audiences as a “globe-spanning, action-packed mission to save Christmas.” But exactly whose Christmas it believes it is saving remains unclear.

The film currently has a score of 31% on Rotten Tomatoes and has had poor box office results worldwide. Some analysts have predicted the film will make a loss in the region of $100 million (£78 million).

Despite the all-too-easy temptation to deride Red One as a clearly ill-conceived project, this isn’t simply a one-off disaster. On the contrary, “Red One” is just the latest in a long line of infamous attempts by Hollywood studios to make a spectacular Christmas action film.

In the 1980s we had Santa Claus: The Movie (1985), presented by the producers of Superman: The Movie (1978). While Superman famously tricked some viewers into thinking a man could fly, Santa Claus: The Movie tried to use the same groundbreaking special effects to make us believe reindeer could fly, turning Santa’s sleigh ride into the stuff of blockbuster cinema . It was a flop.

The 1990s saw “Jingle All the Way,” an ill-conceived Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle that, despite being the subject of many celebratory memes, was still a critical disaster. In 2010, Arthur Christmas, a co-production between Aardman Studios and Sony Pictures, attempted to upgrade Santa’s infrastructure to convert his sleigh into a rocket. Once again, the film was a box office disappointment despite receiving positive reviews from critics.

Of course, there are exceptions to the rule that Christmas action movies bomb at the box office. Let’s not forget that for many fans, “Die Hard” is a Christmas movie. But Hollywood’s attempt to combine the aesthetics of the action-adventure genre with that of Christmas almost always failed.

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Read more: Die Hard is a Christmas film (terrorism).

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Why does Hollywood stick to this strategy? Mainly because it backed itself into a corner. In its heyday, Hollywood produced Christmas classics such as Miracle on 34th Street (1947), Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), and White Christmas (1954).

These films are cozy, warm and calming. They not only set the template for the ritual of watching films at Christmas, but also what the Christmas experience should be like. But they were all made before the popularization of television. And as home viewing has increased over the past 75 years, Hollywood has been forced to position itself as the decidedly uncomfortable equivalent of the armchair and the roaring fire.

Watching movies at home is relaxing. When we imagine our cinematic Christmas routines, many of us probably imagine being surrounded by our loved ones, in comfy pajamas, spending a cozy evening together watching Home Alone, The Muppet Christmas Carol, etc Watching “Love Actually” with some mulled wine and a can of Quality Street.

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Read more: The Muppet Christmas Carol turns 30: How the film became a cult classic

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However, going to the cinema should be spectacular. It’s loud, booming, exciting and emotional. It all feels a little intimidating and unnecessary when you’re sitting down with a delicious turkey and mayo sandwich and a cup of tea in your jams.

If we don’t want our Christmas movies to look like Red One, perhaps we should ask ourselves what we want from our seasonal viewing experiences. Statistics show that Christmas is still the time of year when people go to the cinema most often. But the core audience needed to keep theaters running is a younger demographic that prefers the big superhero, action and sci-fi franchises.

However, the rest of us crave a Christmas viewing experience, which now seems to have been adopted by channels like Hallmark and Netflix, which even have their own Christmas section. This is great news for Lindsay Lohan, who appears to be enjoying something of a career renaissance, executive producing and starring in some questionable holiday “classics” like Falling for Christmas (2022) and most recently, Our Little Secret.

These films may be cheesier than a holiday baked Camembert, but there’s a reason they’re popular. They remind us of the ghosts of Christmas films past that major film studios apparently can’t or don’t want to produce anymore.

The film industry needs to think carefully about what kind of films it wants to contribute to the Christmas film tradition in the future. But we also have to accept that we may be asking Hollywood for something that even Santa Claus has difficulty fulfilling.