The Wrecking Crew movie lands on Prime Video with Momoa-Bautista action-comedy pairing
The wrecking crew movie arrived on Prime Video on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, turning a long-teased Jason Momoa–Dave Bautista team-up into one of the streamer’s first major new releases of the year. The film leans into a “brothers who brawl” hook—big stunts, island-set mayhem, and a buddy dynamic built for quick banter—while also carrying a mystery thread tied to a family death.
If you’re searching “wrecking crew movie,” be aware the title can also point to an older music documentary; this new release is a separate, scripted action-comedy feature.
How the wrecking crew movie is rolling out
Prime Video released the film at 3:00 a.m. ET on Jan. 28, aligning with the platform’s standard global drop timing. The movie is a streaming exclusive rather than a traditional wide theatrical release, with marketing focused on the leads’ chemistry, Hawai‘i-set set pieces, and a brisk, throwback action tone.
Here’s the quick snapshot of the release details:
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release (ET) | Jan. 28, 2026, 3:00 a.m. |
| Where to watch | Prime Video |
| Director | Ángel Manuel Soto |
| Writer | Jonathan Tropper |
| Runtime | 2h 2m (approx.) |
Plot setup: estranged brothers, one violent homecoming
Momoa and Bautista play half-brothers who have drifted apart and reunite in Hawai‘i after their father’s death. The death doesn’t sit right, and the attempt to understand what happened pulls them into escalating conflict involving local corruption and organized crime. The film’s engine is less “whodunit” than “how far will these two go before they finally work together,” with the mystery functioning as the fuse for fights, chases, and comedic friction.
The tone is intentionally pulpy: big personalities, blunt emotions, and set pieces designed to keep the story moving even when the plot takes familiar turns. The emotional through-line is reconciliation—two men who process grief and anger in radically different ways, forced into the same lane.
Cast and characters around the chaos
Beyond the two leads, the supporting cast is stacked with recognizable faces used for both comic relief and threat escalation. Claes Bang plays a central antagonist figure, while Temuera Morrison, Jacob Batalon, Frankie Adams, Miyavi, Stephen Root, and Morena Baccarin fill out a mix of allies, officials, and adversaries that keep the brothers bouncing between “helpful” and “dangerous” encounters.
The movie also builds a sense of place through its secondary characters—people who anchor the story to Hawai‘i’s neighborhoods, politics, and underworld stereotypes, even when the film is primarily chasing entertainment value rather than realism.
Where it was filmed and what acknowledging Hawai‘i means
The story is set in Hawai‘i and uses island imagery as a major selling point: coastal roads, city streets, and wide-open vistas that frame the action. Production also used New Zealand for a significant portion of filming, a common approach for large-scale projects balancing logistics and cost while still chasing an island look on screen.
That split matters for viewers who care about authenticity, but the movie’s priority is vibe: sunlit exteriors, fast vehicles, and a setting that justifies both a family-rooted backstory and a “vacation that turns violent” action palette.
Clearing up the title confusion
“The Wrecking Crew” can refer to more than one film. There’s a well-known documentary titled The Wrecking Crew! focused on Los Angeles session musicians from the 1960s and early 1970s—an entirely different subject and era. The new Prime Video release is a scripted action-comedy with Momoa and Bautista; it is not a remake or continuation of the music documentary.
If you’re hunting for the documentary, look for the exclamation point in the title and the music-history framing. If you want the new action release, search with the lead actors’ names or the 2026 release year.
Sources consulted: Amazon MGM Studios Press Site, Prime Video, Variety, Deadline, The Guardian, IMDb
