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Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is one of the most successful wrestlers-turned-actors in history. By some measures he’s the most successful, as his movies have made more than $15 billion at the global box office. But his star power has its limits, as evidenced by the very disappointing opening for his latest, “The Smashing Machine.” It now ranks as the worst opening ever for a movie in which Johnson had a leading role.<\/p>\n
Directed by Benny Safdie and released by A24, “The Smashing Machine” opened to just $6 million domestically this past weekend<\/a>. That was far below pre-release expectations, which had it pulling in $10 million on the low side. Needless to say, it fell well short of that mark. To make matters worse, the movie carries a $50 million budget, which doesn’t account for marketing expenses. This beats the actor’s previous low, which was set by “Faster” ($8.5 million opening\/$35 million worldwide).<\/p>\n Working against A24, Johnson, and Safdie was bad timing. Taylor Swift dropped “The Official Release Party of A Showgirl” over the weekend, which made $33 million<\/a>, easily topping the charts. When the studio originally staked out this date on the release calendar, Swift was nowhere to be found. In any case, one would think these two releases could co-exist as counterprogramming. That’s now how things shook out.<\/p>\n Johnson has been in movies that had lower opening weekends, such as “Jem and the Holograms” ($1.3 million opening), but that was just a cameo far earlier in his career. This, on the other hand, was a buzzy awards season-friendly biopic about MMA legend Mark Kerr. Johnson has earned rave reviews for his work in “Smashing Machine,”<\/a> with legit Oscar buzz surrounding him. It’s remarkable that his star power couldn’t carry this movie any further.<\/p>\n