Amidst ‘Hidden Strike’ Trailer Launch, Here’s Why John Cena and Jackie Chan’s $80 Million+ Project Almost Never Hit Theatres

From the day of stepping into Hollywood, John Cena has grown in stature with every project. In this journey, he has starred alongside some celebrated names in the industry. One of them was the face of action films across the globe, Jackie Chan. However, their only on-screen collaboration till now couldn’t hit the theatres. 

The story behind this dates back to 2018 when Deadline reported that Cena would be starring in a film with Chan, which would shoot in China. Since that day, a lot has changed. It’s been close to five long years since the movie with a breathtaking cast didn’t see the light of day. But how did it get delayed to half a decade? 

Reasons that led to John Cena and Jackie Chan’s first-ever collaboration release after five years

In brief, several circumstances contributed to pushing the release date of the film, now known as ‘Hidden Strike.’ Although, the trailer for the action-packed film has been released yesterday. But the fact that the shoot wrapped before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world raises many questions. 

It’s understandable that similar to the jolt that everyone faced during the pandemic, this film had to go through some obstructions and delays. But much before that, a hint of problems between Hollywood studios and China came to the surface. It was due to the strained trade relations between the countries. Therefore, its impact on a film that utilized American filmmakers and actors was quite evident.

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This mix of Hollywood-China aimed to become a new standard for such collaboration by its director, Scott Waugh. Not only he, but even Cena disclosed his love for living in China and working with Chan. The love and admiration that the crew shared painted a fine picture. However, all this while, no one offered any glimpse of when the movie will hit theatres. 

Why was the film not released after the pandemic ended?

Even after the opening of theatres after the pandemic, there was no sign of Hidden Strike, previously known as Snafu, Project X, and Project X-traction. And in between all this dilemma, in May 2021, The Champ Cena referred to Taiwan as a country, which was heavily discouraged in the Chinese media.

Even though the star apologized for his comments; he was lambasted in both the West and the East. This small action of the lead star raised the question of whether Chinese moviegoers will even seek out an action film starring Cena or not. 

In the past, the novelty of a noteworthy American actor didn’t help homegrown Chinese features garner major distribution in the U.S. Thus, it appeared much more difficult for Cena and Chan’s first collaboration to attract viewers for it in both countries. 

Now after almost 5 years and leaving behind multiple obstacles, the trailer of the $80 million plus project starring John Cena and Jacky Chan is out. However, the release date has not yet been revealed. 

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What did you make of these points that shed light on why Cena and Chan’s action film didn’t hit theatres for so long?