Dwayne Johnson’s The Smashing Machine Has Report Low Field Workplace Opening

The Smashing Machine is projected to hit a file field workplace low for A-list film star Dwayne Johnson. Dwayne Johnson motion pictures are by no means assured smash hits, however the WWE wrestler turned Hollywood celebrity has a number of billion-dollar titles below 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 function.

Johnson’s earlier record-holder was the 2010 motion film Sooner, 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 Sooner, it may leg out to a complete significantly beneath its reported price range 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 plenty of complicating elements 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 degree of Johnson’s IP blockbusters comparable to Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and The Destiny of the Livid. Fairly a couple of of his different motion pictures that opened beneath $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 nicely critically, with The Smashing Machine evaluations incomes it a Licensed Contemporary Rotten Tomatoes rating of 73%. It has additionally generated an excessive amount of Oscar buzz for Johnson after its premiere on the 82nd Venice Worldwide Movie Competition.

If it does grow to be a significant Oscar contender, this is not going to solely give it a second life in theaters through the 2025-2026 awards season, this may alleviate the vast majority of its price range concerns, as a result of an Oscar nomination could 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 nicely: 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 capability to attach with theatrical audiences.

Get pleasure from ScreenRant’s field workplace protection? Click on beneath to enroll in my weekly field workplace e-newsletter (make sure that to examine “Field Workplace” in your preferences) and get unique evaluation, predictions, and extra:

Signal Up