Dwayne Johnson reacted to his new film The Smashing Machine’s poor performance at the box office.
The actor, 53, reflected on the movie in a Monday, October 6, Instagram post.
“From deep in my grateful bones, thank you to everyone who has watched The Smashing Machine,” he wrote. “In our storytelling world, you can’t control box office results — but what I realized you can control is your performance and your commitment to completely disappear and go elsewhere. And I will always run to that opportunity.”
Johnson went on to thank director Benny Safdie for trusting him with leading the film.
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“It was my honor to transform in this role for my director, Benny Safdie,” he concluded. “Thank you brother for believing in me. Truth is this film has changed my life. With deep gratitude, respect and radical empathy, DJ.”
The Smashing Machine earned $5.9 million at the domestic box office during its opening weekend after premiering on Friday, October 3. (Taylor Swift’sOfficial Release Party of a Showgirl rose to No. 1 with $33 million.) The film was initially projected to make $8 million to $15 million in its first weekend in theaters. A24, the studio behind the movie, spent $50 million to produce it and millions more to promote it.
This marks Johnson’s worst box office opening ever. Prior to The Smashing Machine’s release, his 2010 thriller Faster ranked as his lowest performing opening weekend for a film, earning $8.5 million at the time.
Johnson stars as two-time UFC heavyweight champion Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine, which is based on a 2002 documentary of the same name. The film follows Kerr’s career in mixed martial arts — which spanned from 1997 to 2009 — amid his fraught relationship with wife Dawn Staples, played by Emily Blunt, and substance abuse issues.
Johnson was nearly unrecognizable in the role after gaining weight and wearing a wig to portray Kerr, now 56.
“For me, the transformation was 22 prosthetics, over 30 pounds that I had to put on, which is a lot of weight,” he explained during a Thursday, October 2, appearance on Good Morning America.
Johnson also recalled early reactions to the movie, including the standing ovation it received at the Venice Film Festival in September.
“It’s just incredibly surreal to get this kind of feedback,” he said. “That ovation in Venice, as you see, I’m very emotional. That was special. And this film, The Smashing Machine, and this role and what it represents, it changed my life.”
As for Blunt, she showed her support for her costar and friend’s performance.
“I just felt he had this reservoir of incredible life experience that could be funneled into a role that demanded all of him,” she noted on Good Morning America. “And I just thought he was astonishing.”
Johnson, for his part, revealed that he spent time with Kerr to improve his understanding of the character.
“No one can really relate to what it’s like to be the greatest fighter on the planet. At one time, Mark Kerr was the greatest fighter on the planet and undefeated, dominant and feared, but we can all relate to pressure, what that’s like, and having to deliver day in and day out in relationships and jobs,” he said. “And a lot of us, some don’t deal with pressure that well, and some deal with it decently. But Mark, again, is that reflection of all of us.”
