The Man With the Bag Trailer: Schwarzenegger Plays Santa

Courtesy of Prime Video

The Lowdown

Arnold Schwarzenegger in a Santa suit, recruiting the guy from Reacher to pull off a heist at the North Pole. That’s the pitch, and Prime Video isn’t pretending it’s anything else. The full trailer for The Man With the Bag landed Monday morning, a month before the movie streams on Dec. 2 (Prime Video; Deadline). It’s also Schwarzenegger’s first Christmas movie since Jingle All the Way, 30 years ago (Amazon).

Key Takeaways

Prime Video released the full trailer for The Man With the Bag on Monday, Nov. 2 (Prime Video; Deadline).
Arnold Schwarzenegger plays Santa. Alan Ritchson plays Vance, a thief Santa pulls off the naughty list (Amazon).
A rogue elf with a grudge, played by Awkwafina, steals Santa’s magic bag, and Vance’s crew has to steal it back (Amazon).
Adam Shankman directs from a script by Allan Rice. The film streams worldwide on Prime Video on Dec. 2 (Amazon; Deadline).

What’s in the Trailer

The trailer opens on Vance, a skilled pickpocket, at a diner with his young daughter when a job offer with a life-changing payout comes in (ComingSoon). The client is a jolly man in a red coat who calls himself Kris. His bag has been stolen, and if it isn’t back by Christmas, there is no Christmas. Then he reveals who he really is and takes Vance and his daughter for a ride in a flying sleigh (ComingSoon).

The villain is an elf with a grudge, played by Awkwafina, who walks off with Santa’s magic bag (Amazon). With the big night closing in, Vance pulls together a crew of criminally skilled misfits, with some help from elves and reindeer, for what Amazon calls “the most unexpected heist of their lives” (Amazon).

The cast also includes Berkeley James, Michael Cyril Creighton, Liza Koshy, Kyle Mooney, Jane Krakowski and Ken Jeong (Amazon; Deadline). Adam Shankman, who directed Hairspray, made the film from a script by Allan Rice, and Ritchson is also one of the producers (Deadline).

Amazon’s own logline sells it as “a holiday heist adventure about second chances, unlikely friendships, and discovering that sometimes even Santa needs a little help delivering Christmas” (Amazon). A shorter teaser came out at the end of September. This is the first full look (Amazon).

What People Are Saying

The trade press jumped on it within the hour. Deadline went straight for the Santa angle:

‘The Man With The Bag’ Trailer: Arnold Schwarzenegger Stars As Santa In Amazon MGM’s Christmas Heist Caper pic.twitter.com/8dj8qbI79s
— Deadline (@DEADLINE) November 2, 2026

/Film summed up the whole plot in one line:

Santa Claus (Arnold Schwarzenegger) hires a criminal (Alan Ritchson) to help steal back his bag of presents in a new trailer for The Man with the Bag. pic.twitter.com/BUkFNfI6SO
— /Film (@slashfilm) November 2, 2026

Our Take: Arnold Was Always Going to Be Santa

Honestly, it’s strange this took 30 years. Jingle All the Way became a holiday cable staple, and Schwarzenegger has been leaning into the lovable-legend phase of his career for a while. Santa is the natural next step. Casting Ritchson as the straight man is smart, too. He spends most of Reacher hitting people, so watching him get bossed around by an elf should be worth the price of a Prime subscription on its own.

The question is whether this lands as a real Christmas comedy people rewatch every year, or as one more streaming holiday movie that’s gone by Jan. 2. The trailer leans hard on the cast. We’ll find out on Dec. 2.

The Background

Schwarzenegger last did a Christmas movie with Jingle All the Way in 1996, playing a dad hunting for a sold-out toy (Deadline). Ritchson is best known as Jack Reacher in Prime Video’s Reacher series. Our hero image is an official Prime Video still of Ritchson and Schwarzenegger. Find more movie news on our Movies page.