‘The Smashing Machine’ opening weekend does lowest of The Rock’s career
The Smashing Machine brought in $6 million over its opening weekend.
The Mark Kerr biopic cost $50 million to make and finished third for the weekend behind Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl (a behind-the-scenes look at the making of her “Life of a Showgirl” record), which brought in over $33 million, and One Battle After Another, which brought in $11 million.
According to an article from Variety, The Smashing Machine’s opening weekend did the lowest of any in Rock’s acting career.
“Elsewhere at the box office, audiences couldn’t smell what The Rock was cooking,” wrote Variety’s Rebecca Rubin.
“This weekend’s other newcomer, Dwayne Johnson’s R-rated sports drama ‘The Smashing Machine,’ cratered in third place with $6 million from 3,345 venues. Those ticket sales were below projections of$8 million to $15 million and marked a career low for Johnson, below his 2010 thriller ‘Faster’ ($8.5 million, not adjusted for inflation).”
The film is certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a 74 percent approval rating based on 223 critic reviews and a 78 percent audience score based on more than 250 fan reviews.
The Rock’s performance as Kerr has been well-reviewed. The movie follows Kerr’s journey in the early days of mixed martial arts. Our own Josh Nason covered the film on a recent episode of JNPO, which also features an interview with Bas Rutten. The episode is available here.
Ian Carey is a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose work has been featured in NOW Magazine, The Huffington Post, and more. A lifelong wrestling aficionado born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he has covered the industry for a decade and a half. He joined the f4wonline.com team in 2019.