The Smashing Machine is projected to hit a report field workplace low for A-list film star Dwayne Johnson. Dwayne Johnson movies are by no means assured smash hits, however the WWE wrestler turned Hollywood celebrity has a number of billion-dollar titles beneath his belt (together with Livid 7 and Moana 2), and his motion pictures have collectively grossed greater than $15 billion.
Per Deadline, as of Saturday morning, his new Mark Kerr biopic The Smashing Machine is projected to earn a 3-day opening weekend of $6.2 million on the home field workplace. The MMA film, which was directed by Benny Safdie, is thus set to earn the bottom opening weekend ever for a large launch with Dwayne Johnson in a lead position.
Johnson’s earlier record-holder was the 2010 motion film Quicker, which debuted with $8.5 million and went on to gross $35.8 million worldwide. If The Smashing Machine continues on its present trajectory relative to Quicker, it may leg out to a complete significantly under its reported finances of $50 million.
What This Means For Dwayne Johnson
Whereas this low opening weekend strikes a blow to the notion of how a lot of a draw Dwayne Johnson is on the field workplace, there are lots of complicating components that can probably forestall 2025’s The Smashing Machine from being a official flop.
The primary is that the film is a biographical drama, so it’s not designed to carry out on the stage of Johnson’s IP blockbusters comparable to Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and The Destiny of the Livid. Fairly just a few of his different motion pictures that opened under $20 million are equally small-scale non-IP titles, together with Snitch ($13.2 million) and Gridiron Gang ($14.4 million).
Moreover, his new outing has been performing effectively critically, with The Smashing Machine reviews incomes it a Licensed Recent Rotten Tomatoes rating of 73%. It has additionally generated a substantial amount of Oscar buzz for Johnson after its premiere on the 82nd Venice Worldwide Movie Competition.
If it does change into a significant Oscar contender, this won’t solely give it a second life in theaters through the 2025-2026 awards season, this may alleviate the vast majority of its finances issues, as a result of an Oscar nomination can be one other feather within the cap of its manufacturing firm and distributor, A24, which might probably be deemed definitely worth the expenditure.
Dwayne Johnson’s 2026 follow-up to The Smashing Machine can be a film that is kind of assured to carry out effectively: the live-action remake of Moana. Within the wake of each Moana 2 and the live-action Lilo & Sew surpassing $1 billion, it appears set to be successful that can reassert his potential to attach with theatrical audiences.
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- Launch Date
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October 3, 2025
- Runtime
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123 minutes
- Director
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Benny Safdie
- Writers
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Benny Safdie
- Producers
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Beau Flynn, David Koplan, Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia, Hiram Garcia
