A new movie about a Syracuse University alumnus just broke a box office record \u2014 but not one the filmmakers likely wanted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Smashing Machine,\u201d a biopic starring Dwayne \u201cThe Rock\u201d Johnson as former Syracuse wrestler Mark Kerr<\/a>, opened in theaters this weekend with just $6 million across 3,345 theaters. It was third place at the box office, behind Paul Thomas Anderson\u2019s new film \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d (starring Leonardo DiCaprio) at No. 2 with $11.1 million and Taylor Swift\u2019s \u201cThe Official Release Party of a Show Girl\u201d at No. 1 with $33 million.<\/p>\n According to The Hollywood Reporter<\/a>, \u201cThe Smashing Machine\u201d set a new record as the worst opening weekend in Johnson\u2019s career. Ticket sales were well below early projections of up to $20 million and bombed harder than his previous cinematic low of $8.5 million for \u201cFaster\u201d in 2010 (not adjusted for inflation).<\/p>\n Variety<\/a> reports the numbers are especially disappointing as studio A24 spent $50 million to produce \u201cThe Smashing Machine.\u201d Millions of dollars have also been spent promoting the movie, including appearances at the Venice and Toronto film festivals.<\/p>\n THR, Variety and The Associated Press point to several reasons for why the movie flopped, including an overinflated paycheck for Johnson (who was playing a very different role than his usual blockbusters), the classic awards-buzz-doesn\u2019t-always-equal-grosses, and limited international appeal (\u201csports dramas do not travel well overseas,\u201d an industry expert told Variety). Competition also likely wasn\u2019t a big factor, as the audience for Swift\u2019s movie was 90% female and 70% of \u201cThe Smashing Machine\u201d viewers were male.<\/p>\n But that doesn\u2019t mean Johnson\u2019s movie, which has earned critical acclaim and standing ovations, is a disappointment.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen major movie stars branch out into more indie roles, like Tom Cruise in \u2018Magnolia,\u2019 they\u2019re trying to redefine their career,\u201d Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore, told the AP. \u201cThey can straddle both universes, so Dwayne Johnson and all the acclaim he\u2019s getting. That prestige factor. That\u2019s the currency. He knows box office. He studies this and he\u2019s a business person. But also realize that when you go outside of your comfort zone, it puts him in a certain light. … Dwayne Johnson is redefining what he can do.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Smashing Machine,\u201d directed by Benny Safdie and also starring Emily Blunt, is described as a gritty film about Kerr, an early Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) star who attempted to make a comeback in MMA after battling substance abuse. He struggled with depression and an addiction to painkillers, suffering an overdose in 1999.<\/p>\n Kerr won the NCAA Division I championship at 190 pounds in 1992, the same year he graduated from Syracuse University. He sought to compete at the 1996 Olympics, but lost to future WWF (now WWE) star Kurt Angle and turned to the then-burgeoning sport of MMA, where Kerr\u2019s aggressive style earned him the nickname \u201cThe Smashing Machine.\u201d<\/p>\n But Kerr also had a number of issues outside of sports, including getting kicked kicked out of SU for a year after being arrested in 1989 on charges of stealing stereo equipment from another student\u2019s apartment. He worked as a concert roadie and his weight hit 245 pounds as he fell into bad habits of drinking, eating and drug abuse. According to The Post-Standard, he earned his scholarship back by enrolling at Onondaga Community College and getting serious in the gym.<\/p>\n After wrestling, Kerr found success as an MMA fighter in the Pride Fighting Championships, winning Japanese titles in 1997 and 2000, plus a World Vale Tudo Championship in Brazil and four ADCC World Submission Wrestling Championships in Abu Dhabi. He was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame earlier this year.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Smashing Machine\u201d is currently in theaters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.syracuse.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A new movie about a Syracuse University alumnus just broke a box office record \u2014 but not one the filmmakers likely wanted. \u201cThe Smashing Machine,\u201d a biopic starring Dwayne \u201cThe Rock\u201d Johnson as former Syracuse wrestler Mark Kerr, opened in theaters this weekend with just $6 million across 3,345 theaters. It was third place at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[389075],"class_list":["post-2073978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-my-selections"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2073978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2073978"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2073978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2073979,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2073978\/revisions\/2073979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2073978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2073978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2073978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"LA](\"https:\/\/www.syracuse.com\/resizer\/v2\/BP64CXD6OVAZDMWKVUABUWBTCA.jpg?auth=43e287d926af2ffcbb3c7b2c19003b0076d5f48ec1786b24c86e2cb4e1abe6d2&width=1280&smart=true&quality=90\"\/)
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