Claim: Chris Hemsworth was the lead role in Red Dawn.

Red Dawn is a 2012 American war film directed by Dan Bradley . The screenplay by Carl Ellsworth and Jeremy Passmore is based on the 1984 film of the same name . The film stars Chris Hemsworth , Josh Peck , Josh Hutcherson , Adrianne Palicki , Isabel Lucas , and Jeffrey Dean Morgan . The film centers on a group of young people who defend their hometown from a North Korean invasion .   Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer announced its intention to remake Red Dawn in May 2008 and subsequently hired Bradley and Ellsworth . The principal characters were cast the following year and the film went into production in September 2009 in Mount Clemens , Michigan . Originally scheduled to be released on November 24 , 2010 , the film was shelved because of MGM 's financial troubles . While in post-production , the invading army and antagonists were changed from Chinese to North Korean in order to maintain access to China 's box office . FilmDistrict bought the worldwide distribution rights in September 2011 and the film was released in the United States on November 23 , 2012 .