Taylor Swift’s Life of a Showgirl Release Party Defeats Dwayne Johnson’s The Smashing Machine

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She is widely known as “The Man,” a title she’s earned throughout her nearly twenty-year career. Most recently, she dominated the box office with her new concert film, Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl.

The popular singer worked directly with movie theaters to create a behind-the-scenes film about her newest album, The Life of a Showgirl. This release coincided with the premiere of Dwayne Johnson’s well-received A24 biopic, creating competition between the two. According to reports, Johnson’s film ultimately didn’t perform as well, as Swift’s The Official Release Party of a Showgirl earned significantly more money, giving Swift the No. 1 film and No. 1 album simultaneously that weekend.

This Friday, experts estimated the new release would earn between $29 million and $31 million over the weekend. They predicted Johnson’s The Smashing Machine would open with a less impressive $6 million to $7 million. However, Taylor Swift: The Official Release of a Showgirl surprised everyone, debuting with $33 million – a bit higher than expected – despite a 36% drop on Saturday to $10 million after a strong $15.8 million opening day. The film earned a total of $46 million worldwide. In contrast, The Smashing Machine performed poorly, bringing in only $6 million – the lowest opening weekend of Johnson’s career and falling short of initial forecasts.

Swift’s concert film was also released in theaters, propelling her to her first No. 1 hit. It debuted with an impressive $93.2 million domestically, and ultimately grossed $261.4 million worldwide.

Before its launch, the new film, Grow, changed its U.S. release date to avoid competing with Taylor Swift.

These two incredibly popular celebrities have huge fan bases actively supporting their work. Taylor Swift recently finished the most financially successful concert tour ever, the Eras Tour, earning over $2 billion – a record no other tour has achieved. She has 548 million followers across social media. Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, with 562 million followers, has consistently been one of the highest-paid actors for many years.

Taylor Swift’s The Official Release Party of a Showgirl, created in partnership with AMC Theaters, Cinemark Theaters, and Regal Cinemas, is playing in theaters exclusively this weekend, from October 3rd to October 5th. Audiences have given the release an A+ CinemaScore and a remarkable 96% audience rating, along with a ‘Verified Hot’ badge. While there aren’t many critic reviews – only three are currently available – all of them are positive. There is no overall critics’ score due to the limited number of reviews.

Meanwhile, Dwayne Johnson ventured into a very different type of movie. Usually starring in big-budget action comedies with his signature charismatic and humorous persona, Johnson took a risk with this A24 film, based on the real-life story of MMA fighter Mark Kerr. The movie premiered at the Venice Film Festival this summer to critical acclaim and positive reviews. Currently, it boasts a “Certified Fresh” rating of 73% based on over 220 reviews, with 78% approval from viewers.

There’s No Bad Blood Between Taylor Swift and Dwayne Johnson

As a big cinema fan, I was surprised to learn that Dwayne Johnson and Taylor Swift actually have a history! It turns out Johnson appeared in Swift’s 2020 music video, “The Man,” which was part of her seventh album, Lover. What’s really interesting is that Swift not only starred in it, but also directed the whole thing – she even transformed herself into a man for the video. Johnson provided the voice for a character, and the whole thing cleverly points out the double standards we often see when it comes to gender.

I’ve been thinking about how thrilled I am that the music video for “The Man” is finally released. I want to express my gratitude to so many people – first, a big thank you to @therock for voicing ‘The Man’ and for consistently supporting my music over the years (and now my first time directing!),” Taylor shared on Instagram. “It’s amazing to have you involved in this!“

Johnson had demonstrated his appreciation for Taylor Swift before, notably performing her song “Shake It Off” from the album 1989 on Lip Sync Battle. More recently, in 2024, he revealed to Entertainment Tonight that he had to go to great lengths-“pull strings”-to secure tickets for Swift’s incredibly popular Eras Tour.

I have to say, in all my years covering events, I’ve never heard anything quite like this. He confessed a close friend actually helped him navigate the ticket process – something he usually avoids. He explained that normally, he just takes care of things himself, saying, “I just make it happen.” But this time, he sheepishly admitted he had to ask for a favor. It seems Taylor Swift herself stepped in – he put it simply, saying, “Taylor made it happen.” He clearly doesn’t enjoy asking for help, but in this particular instance, a quick phone call did the trick.

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2025-10-05 18:37