Over two weeks into its theatrical run, The Smashing Machine appears to be running on fumes. The sports drama, marketed as a major career pivot for star Dwayne Johnson, has emerged as perhaps his biggest flop ever. The star had headlined a string of mega-budget underperformers in the last few years, released both theatrically and at home. With The Smashing Machine, he seemed to be doing something that he never had in his two-decade career as an A-list star. During those two decades, Johnson became one of the most bankable people in the business, delivering several hits one after the other. But The Smashing Machine has only continued an uncomfortably long streak of commercial disappointment.

With only $15 million at the worldwide box office against a reported budget of $50 million, it’s the lowest-grossing theatrical film that he has headlined in his career. Only Richard Kelly‘s Southland Tales had a worse gross, but it barely received a theatrical release. The Smashing Machine, however, debuted in more than 3,300 domestic locations, ranking alongside the best of them. As it stands, it’s trailing Johnson‘s Faster by around $20 million, and Gridiron Gang by around $25 million. Even movies such as Snitch and Fighting with My Family did considerably better. And these aren’t even the movies that audiences would remember Johnson for.

At his peak, he was delivering hits such as Central Intelligence, Rampage, San Andreas, and his two Jumanji sequels. Along the way, he also played a major role in the later (and most successful) Fast & Furious movies, not to mention his memorable voice role in the animated hit Moana. But things started going downhill around five years ago. Since then, Johnson has starred in the likes of Jungle Cruise, Red Notice, Red One, and Black Adam. He’s set to reunite with his The Smashing Machine director Benny Safdie on a new movie that just got distribution, but his best bet right now is the upcoming live-action remake of Moana, and the third Jumanji that he recently spoke about.

Dwayne Johnson Is Still in Contention for an Oscar Nod

The Smashing Machine opened to mostly positive reviews, and appears to have settled at a “certified fresh” 70% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. Distributor A24 did everything that it could to promote the movie, giving it a premiere at the Venice International Film Festival, and getting an endorsement from Christopher Nolan. Johnson is still a top contender for an Oscar nod, but it remains to be seen if the film’s box office performance has any impact on this at all.

via Collider