Alan Ritchson Officially Moves on From 'Reacher' With New Prime Video Project

It’s been 30 years since a simple family man went to war with Christmas commercialism and a psychotic postal worker to try and deliver the most memorable holiday season of all to Anakin Skywalker. Now, plenty of time has been spent saving the world since then but apparently Christmas needs saving once more, and that family man has decided to recruit Jack No-Middle-Name Reacher to help with it.

Amazon MGM Studios has officially unveiled the first trailer for The Man With the Bag, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as Santa Claus alongside Alan Ritchson as a professional thief recruited to save Christmas. The new holiday heist adventure arrives globally on Prime Video on December 2, 2026, marking Schwarzenegger’s first Christmas movie in three decades, while Prime Video are also absolutely getting the most out of their biggest star in the shape of Reacher. Plus, it’s a nice passing of the torch, as Ritchson could quite comfortably be Schwarzenegger’s successor as the muscle-bound action man with great comedic chops if he plays his cards right.

When Santa’s iconic red bag is stolen by a rogue elf with a grudge, Christmas is suddenly at risk. With his biggest night of the year fast approaching, Santa recruits a thief from his ‘Naughty List’ who quickly assembles a crew of criminally skilled misfits — with a little help from elves and reindeer — to pull off the most unexpected heist of their lives. It’s the perfect, frothy Christmas adventure for the whole family and it’ll give Ritchson another chance to show us just how funny he is, while Schwarzenegger looks the part as Jolly Old Saint Nick.

• He reads ground the way other people read a room.
• He will stand between you and the worst of it without discussing it.
• He says almost nothing, and never the wrong thing.

• The 1982 original came from David Morrell’s 1972 novel, which ends very differently.
• Stallone cut most of his own dialogue in the edit to make the character nearly silent.
• Five films across thirty-seven years, from 1982 to the fifth in 2019.

• He is better in the room than he is on paper, and he is excellent on paper.
• He will not explain the plan, and the plan will work.
• He treats charm as a tool, and it is a remarkably effective one.

• Eon has made twenty-five Bond films since Dr. No in 1962, across six actors.
• Denis Villeneuve is directing the next one for Amazon MGM, which took creative control in
  2025.
• The search for the new 007 was still running through 2026, with screen tests under way.

• He has read the thing nobody else thought to read.
• He will risk the whole plan for the artifact, and be right about half the time.
• He improvises better than most people prepare.

• The Cairo swordsman scene was improvised on the day because Harrison Ford had dysentery.
• Raiders was filmed in about 73 days, which was fast even in 1981.
• Dial of Destiny in 2023 was Ford’s fifth and last outing, at the age of eighty.

• He turns whatever is in the room to his advantage.
• He is funniest when things are at their worst.
• He has never once agreed that it is over.

• Die Hard came from Roderick Thorp’s novel Nothing Lasts Forever, a sequel to a book
  filmed in 1968.
• Nakatomi Plaza is Fox Plaza, which was the studio’s own headquarters at the time.
• Bruce Willis was a television comedy actor then, and a long way down the casting list.

• He takes the risk himself rather than assigning it.
• He is three moves ahead and will not say which three.
• He treats your survival as the actual objective.

• Cruise hung off the side of an Airbus A400M at a thousand feet for the opening of Rogue
  Nation.
• The HALO jump in Fallout took 106 takes, filmed at dusk for the light.
• The Final Reckoning in 2025 was the eighth film, and was sold as the last.

Who Is Starring in ‘The Man With the Bag’?

The ensemble stars Schwarzenegger (The Terminator) as Santa Claus, Ritchson (Reacher) as Vance, and Awkwafina (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) as the rogue elf responsible for stealing Santa’s bag. They’ll be joined by Berkeley James, Michael Cyril Creighton (Only Murders in the Building), Liza Koshy (Players), Kyle Mooney (Saturday Night Live), Jane Krakowski (30 Rock), and Ken Jeong (The Hangover). Adam Shankman directs from a screenplay by Allan Rice, with Lawrence Grey, Ben Everard, Reg Tigerman, Dan Spilo, and Ritchson serving as producers.

The Man With the Bag premieres globally on Prime Video on December 2, 2026. The movie is rated PG and runs for 111 minutes.

The Man with the Bag