“You Can’t Control Box Office Results…Truth Is This Film Has Changed My Life”

In the wake of posting the lowest wide opening of his career with A24’s The Smashing Machine, Dwayne Johnson has taken to Instagram with nothing but words of respect and gratitude for those who showed up.

The Benny Safdie-directed movie opened to $5.9M in third, dwarfed by AMC Theatres’ eleventh hour addition of Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl which debuted to $34M, as well as the second weekend of the Leonardo DiCaprio radical Western satire, One Battle After Another, which made $11M.

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“From deep in my grateful bones, thank you to everyone who has watched The Smashing Machine,” the multi-billion dollar grossing star posted.

“In our storytelling world, you can’t control box office results — but what I realized you can control is your performance, and your commitment to completely disappear and go elsewhere,” he continued.

“And I will always run to that opportunity. It was my honor to transform in this role for my director Benny Safdie @bowedtie. Thank you brother for believing in me.”

He adds, “Truth is this film has changed my life. With deep gratitude, respect and radical empathy, DJ.”

The Smashing Machine, hot off a 15 1/2-minute standing ovation at Venice, where Johnson cried, and Safdie won Best Director, arrived on tracking three weeks ago to what looked to be one of A24’s biggest openings between the teens and $20M. However, the movie, which received a 76% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes, was dismissed by audiences with a B- CinemaScore. Essentially, the movie, a deep dive into UFC champ Mark Kerr’s battle with drug addiction, was not an R-rated drama that Rock fans were craving. At the end of the day, the net $50M production is only expected to lose $10M-$15M. A24 plans to continue campaigning for Johnson and the film during awards season.

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