Dwayne Johnson’s New Record-Low Gets Him Smashed at the Box Office

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Despite a lot of pre-release buzz and a standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival, *The Smashing Machine* performed poorly in theaters, marking the worst opening weekend of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s career. Many predicted the film would be a major success for A24, possibly even surpassing *Civil War* as their biggest opening, but the reality was quite different. The movie, which was seen as a potential career shift for Johnson and an Oscar contender, failed to live up to expectations.

According to Box Office Mojo, *The Smashing Machine* debuted at number three in theaters, earning $6 million. It was outpaced by *Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl* and *One Battle After Another*. Screen Rant notes that this is the lowest opening weekend gross for a film starring Dwayne Johnson since *Faster* in 2010, which made $8.5 million. Johnson’s career and box office success significantly increased after that with films like *Fast Five*, *Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle*, and *Moana*.

What Happened with ‘The Smashing Machine’?


TIFF/A24

Typically, a $6 million opening weekend for an A24 film wouldn’t be a big story – it’s actually a solid result for the studio. However, because Dwayne Johnson is such a huge star, many people predicted *The Smashing Machine* would perform much better. Analysts had forecast an opening between $15 and $20 million, making the actual numbers disappointing. With a $50 million production budget, the film will need to earn a lot more to be considered a success in theaters.

Dwayne Johnson’s popularity at the box office has been decreasing lately. Although his DC film, *Black Adam*, started with a decent $67 million opening weekend, its total domestic earnings of $168 million were considerably lower than his previous successes in franchises like *Fast & Furious* and *Jumanji*. Last year’s *Red One*, which opened with $32 million, seemed like a low point in his career, and *The Smashing Machine* was expected to improve things. While *The Smashing Machine* is getting better reviews than *Red One* and *Black Adam*, it’s probably going to reach a much smaller audience.

Now, people are wondering if how well *The Smashing Machine* did in theaters will affect its chances of winning awards. While the film has a good score of 73% on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s not a guaranteed Oscar winner. Many critics praised the lead actor’s performance, and he was initially considered a likely Best Actor nominee. However, the film’s box office results may mean it’s forgotten by the time Academy voters finish their selections.

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2025-10-06 20:47