Red Notice Reportedly Cost Even More Than We Thought

Red Notice reportedly cost even more than originally thought. The star-studded Netflix film had an estimated production budget of $200 million, the streaming service’s most expensive movie to date, though it might be overtaken by the Russo Brothers’ upcoming spy-thriller, The Gray Man, releasing sometime next year. For now, Red Notice holds the title, which was originally planned for a theatrical release by Universal Pictures, but was acquired by Netflix for distribution due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The action-comedy film premiered on the streaming service on November 12.

Written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, Red Notice stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as an FBI agent named John Harley who reluctantly joins forces with a world-renowned art thief, Nolan Booth (Ryan Reynolds), to hunt down an even more dangerous criminal known as the Bishop (Gal Gadot). Despite high hopes for Netflix’s star-studded, high-octane action-comedy, the critical response to Red Notice has been decidedly negative, with a Rotten Tomatoes score in the mid-30% range, though it does have a 92% audience score to tout.

Now The Hollywood Reporter reports that Red Notice‘s budget was “easily north of $250 million if not close to $300 million.” Director Rawson Marshall Thurber, in an interview with the outlet, discussed several filmmaking impacts on cost, although didn’t confirm any number from their reporting. While the cost of casting Johnson, Reynolds, and Gadot was certainly significant, Thurber did say the various COVID-19 safety protocols which forced them to shoot scenes “in layers, in plates, and stitch those pieces together” caused some increases to what was originally budgeted.

Despite being Netflix’s most expensive movie to date by a long shot, some have criticized Red Notice for looking cheap. However, it seems that at least some of this can be attributed to shooting amidst the pandemic, which prevented them from filming on location as much as they wanted to and forced them to opt for green screens instead.

Thurber has certainly come a long way since his first feature film, Dodgeball, which was made for $19 million, a measly budget compared to Red Notice‘s. Still, his debut comedy was an unexpected hit that led to his big-budget action films with Johnson, Central Intelligence and Skyscraper. If Thurber and Johnson ever decide to team up for a fourth collaboration, perhaps a Red Notice sequel, hopefully it will be unencumbered by a COVID-19 lockdown.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

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Adam Bentz
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Adam Bentz is a movie and TV news writer for Screen Rant. From a young age, Adam has been interested in a wide range of movies and television, but it was talented auteurs like Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Aaron Sorkin who ultimately sparked his interest in the craft. Motivated by his love for the screen, Adam studied creative writing with a concentration in screenwriting at Southern New Hampshire University.

After graduating, Adam interned as a writer with The Borgen Project, a nonprofit organization working to end extreme poverty. Other than writing for Screen Rant, Adam reviews films on his website adambentz.wordpress.com

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