Dwayne Johnson Starrer Looking to Wrestle the Competition
A24‘s The Smashing Machine, which features Dwayne Johnson in the lead role, looks likely to KO the competition at the box-office with an opening weekend north of $20 million.
The Smashing Machine was an enormous success at the Venice Film Festival with a whopping 15-minute ovation at the picture’s conclusion. That on top of the fact that helmer, Benny Safdie, won the Best Director prize leads industry professionals to believe that the aforementioned movie from studio A24 will be successful and score an opening weekend in the $20 million range which would make it something of a tentpole film for the thriving studio.
Safdie’s film stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in a role he was born to play. He may have dropped “The Rock” from his professional credit, but Johnson is definitely in his element playing the part of UFC fighter Mark Kerr in Safdie’s moving biopic. However, Rogerebert.com stated the new movie is actually an “anti-biopic” which could help it fight its way to the top of the box-office. Who wants a traditional biopic these days anyway? Safdie has crafted a truly unique picture this time out which is almost certain to land Johnson some nominations from the Critics Choice and Golden Globes. Whether Johnson can go all the way with this part and land an Oscar nod is up in the air at this point in time, though. It depends on how good the reviews turn out to be when the film is officially released.
Still, The Smashing Machine has so much going on that it is going to move viewers emotionally as well as entertain them, according to the reviews which have been revealed. Johnson’s co-star in the new picture is the always dependable Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer). Blunt and Johnson’s characters in the film are said to have a strong dynamic which drives the plot of the picture and moves it forward. With two fine performers like these, you can bet there will be scenes that will be quite powerful to watch.
Director Safdie co-helmed the 2019 film, Uncut Gems, which starred Adam Sandler in a tension-filled drama. Safdie helped get Sandler some of the best reviews of his career that time out and it could well happen that Johnson gets some of the best reviews of his own career with The Smashing Machine. It’s clear that one cannot rule out the possibility of The Smashing Machine becoming a big-time hit at the box-office and if word of mouth builds, it could earn $80 million domestically. It all depends on how well the audience receives it and the film’s CinemaScore grade on opening night. Johnson seems to deserve an “A,” but does the film itself? We will see on October 3rd when the movie opens at a theater near you.
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