John Cena Stars as Bodyguard for New Amazon Movie about Apocalyptic Lottery Winners

The new Amazon movie, going live today, and only too appropriately called “Jackpot!” centers around the character of Cena, who is hired as a bodyguard for a lottery winner in a dystopian future.

Based in post-apocalyptic California, the state’s economy is in disastrous ruin and to keep people from a popular uprising, the lottery is used as both the carrot and the stick, plus some extra entertainment for whoever didn’t win the jackpot. There are a few caveats, however.

John Cena Wants You Alive to Claim Your Lottery Ticket

The rules of the game are simple enough. Be selected as the jackpot winner and then survive. People around California are encouraged to kill the winner with no consequences to themselves and claim the ticket as their own.

To make sure that people would want to kill another person, the lottery itself emulates the Powerball and Mega Millions by offering people millions worth of money, and sometimes the jackpot prize tipping over to more than a billion. Yet, collecting the prize is predicated on surviving by sundown and showing up with your ticket at the lottery headquarters.

John Cena’s character will get a 10% cut if he successfully protects his ward, an Asian ethnicity woman played by American actress and comedian Awkwafina.

Lightening the Mood with Good Cinematography

Although cast in bleak terms, the movie sports a surprisingly leisurely approach to the apocalypse, almost similar to what we have seen from The Fallout series also produced by Amazon.

Winning the lottery does seem like a good idea in general, but the astronomical odds  – such as they may be – deserve a second consideration. For once, the question about playing the lottery is whether you truly want to win. Many would hesitate, as your chances of winning are slim – but your chances of surviving are even slimmer still.

Oh, and while the lottery is a core focus of the movie, a promotional campaign has launched offering fans to enter a sweepstakes contest that can fetch them $5,000 worth of Buffalo Wild Wings gift cards.