'You Can't Control Box Office Results' — Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Responds to The Smashing Machine's Disappointing Launch

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson has issued a connection aft The Smashing Machine became the Hollywood star's worst container bureau opening ever.

Johnson’s Oscar contender The Smashing Machine flopped hard upon its motorboat past week. A24’s caller movie, which sees Johnson transformed successful the relation of legendary mixed martial arts and UFC combatant Mark Kerr, made conscionable $6 cardinal astatine the home container office. That’s a vocation debased opening for the WWE star, whose 2010 thriller Faster made $8.5 million, not adjusted for inflation.

According to Variety, A24 has thing of a catastrophe connected its hands here, arsenic it reportedly spent $50 cardinal to nutrient the movie “and galore millions much connected promotional efforts.”

In an Instagram post, Johnson thanked fans who had turned retired to ticker The Smashing Machine, but insisted “you can’t power container bureau results.” Instead, Johnson said, helium was successful power of his performance, which helium remains arrogant of.

Here’s Johnson’s connection successful full:

From heavy successful my grateful bones, convey you to everyone who has watched The Smashing Machine.In our storytelling world, you can’t power container bureau results — but what I realized you tin power is your performance, and your committedness to wholly vanish and spell elsewhere. And I volition ever tally to that opportunity.It was my grant to alteration successful this relation for my manager Benny Safdie @bowedtie. Thank you member for believing successful me.Truth is this movie has changed my life.With heavy gratitude, respect and extremist empathy,dj

Ahead of The Smashing Machine’s release, Johnson had said helium was “pigeon-holed” arsenic an histrion who could lone look successful blockbusters, which is 1 of the reasons helium wanted to prima arsenic Mark Kerr successful the movie.

While promoting the movie astatine the Venice Film Festival, the erstwhile wrestling prima said helium wanted to "live my dreams now" aft "living different people's dreams."

Johnson kicked disconnected his hugely palmy acting vocation arsenic The Scorpion King successful 2001’s The Mummy Returns. His agelong database of blockbuster movie roles see Lucas "Luke" Hobbs successful the Fast & Furious franchise, Dr. Xander "Smolder" Bravestone successful the Jumaniji reboot movies, and Black Adam successful the present defunct DC Extended Universe. Johnson besides famously voiced Maui successful the Moana animated movies, and is acceptable to play the quality successful Disney's upcoming live-action version.

The Smashing Machine, however, marks a important alteration for Johnson, who immoderate are saying could beryllium in-line for his archetypal Oscar information arsenic a result. As reported by the BBC, the 53-year-old said: "I've been frightened to spell heavy and aggravated and earthy until now, until I had this accidental to bash this."

He continued: "I person wanted this for a agelong time. When you're successful Hollywood, arsenic we each know, it had go astir container bureau and you pursuit the container office. And the container bureau successful our concern is precise loud, it tin beryllium precise [overwhelming].

"It tin propulsion you into a country and class — 'This is your lane, this is what you do, and this is what radical privation you to beryllium and this is what Hollywood wants you to be.’

"And I understood that, and I made those movies and I liked them and they were fun, and immoderate were truly bully and did well, and immoderate not truthful good!

"But I deliberation what I did realise is I conscionable had this burning tendency and this dependable that was conscionable saying, 'What if there's more, what if I can?'

"Sometimes it's hard to cognize what you're susceptible of erstwhile you've been pigeon-holed into something. It's harder to know, 'Wait, tin I bash that? I consciousness similar I can.’ And sometimes it takes radical who you emotion and respect to accidental 'you can.’"

Dwayne Johnson and co-star Emily Blunt astatine a peculiar screening of The Smashing Machine successful London, England. Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images.

Johnson added: "I person been precise fortunate to person the vocation I've had implicit the years and marque the films that I've made. But determination was this dependable wrong of maine that said, 'What if I could bash more?'

"The information is, I looked astir a fewer years agone and started to think, 'Am I surviving my imagination oregon americium I surviving different people's dreams?'

"And you travel to that designation and you tin either autumn successful line, go, 'It's presumption quo, things are good,’ oregon you tin go, 'No, I wanna unrecorded my dreams present and bash what I privation to do, and pat into the things I privation to pat into and person a spot to enactment each this worldly that I've experienced successful the past that I've shied distant from.’"

IGN's The Smashing Machine reappraisal returned a 7/10. We said: "The Smashing Machine punches hard for the astir part, but stops abbreviated of a knockout."

Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].