Despite a rather timid debut on the big screen, Dwayne Johnson quickly went from wrestling superstar to movie superstar. Extremely popular on social networks, highest paid actor in Hollywood for several years in a row… not so long ago, he was still one of the undisputed kings of the box office with franchises like Fast & Furious, Jumanji or great spectacle films like San Andreas or Rampage. Not to mention Red Notice on Netflix, one of the most viewed films on the streaming platform.
Except that it's been a few productions that Rock's aura seems to have deteriorated, more than he himself seems to think. We remember in particular the behind the scenes of Black Adam where a Dwayne Johnson, convinced of his strength, tried to rewrite the entire DC universe in his image before reality caught up with him. Today is his latest project, Red Onewhich could push the actor, recently back in the ring, to question himself.
Produced by Prime Video for the “modest” sum of $200 million, Red One landed in American theaters last Friday and collected, for its first weekend, only 34 million dollars. For the record, Black Adamconsidered a failure, started with the double. Suffice it to say that there is a very, very small percentage chance that the feature film will break even; and even reaching 100 million seems more than complicated.
Is Dwayne Johnson still a Rock?
Nevertheless, it is good to note that the film ranks first over the weekend (Venom 3 is second) and that it benefits from a Cinemascore of A- from the public, where the press has rather downgraded it massively. Which may suggest that Dwayne Johnson retains a capital sympathy with the viewer which could ensure the success of the film when it arrives on Prime Video, for whom it is mainly intended.
Red One has previously been marred by rumors of unprofessional behavior by the star, including repeated lateness to filming. Comments subsequently denied, but perhaps only in order to save this Christmas action film with Chris Evans as co-star.
And if the action blockbuster no longer seems to be a genre that smiles on Dwayne Johnson, the latter will surely be able to rejoice again since he will be featured vocally in Vaiana 2 which we hardly see failing at the box office, its future live version which should be successful, and, perhaps, critical recognition with Benny Safdie's film, The Smashing Machine.
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