Dwayne Johnson breaks silence on box office numbers of 'The Smashing Machine'
- By Web Desk -
- Oct 08, 2025
Hollywood star Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has finally spoken up on the disappointing box office figures of his latest release, MMA legend Mark Kerr’s biopic ‘The Smashing Machine’, despite rave reviews at the Venice Film Festival last month.
After a celebrated reception at the Venice Film Festival premiere last month, the Dwayne Johnson-led biopic of MMA fighter Mark Kerr finally arrived in cinemas on Friday, October 3; however, despite the anticipation around the theatrical release, ‘The Smashing Machine’ failed to perform well at the Box Office in the debut weekend.
Against the whopping budget of $50 million taken to make the film, its meagre opening collections rounded off at $5.9 million from 3,345 venues, far from the $15 million projections.
Reacting to the numbers, the ‘Jumanji’ star wrote on Instagram, “In our storytelling world, you can’t control box office results.”
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“But what I realised you can control is your performance, and your commitment to completely disappear and go elsewhere,” he continued. “And I will always run to that opportunity. It was my honour to transform in this role for my director Benny Safdie. Thank you brother for believing in me.”
“From deep in my grateful bones, thank you to everyone who has watched ‘The Smashing Machine’. Truth is this film has changed my life,” Johnson added.
Notably, besides Dwayne Johnson as UFC champion Mark Kerr, ‘The Smashing Machine’ also features Emily Blunt as the MMA legend’s then-wife, Dawn Staples, along with Ryan Bader, Bas Rutten and Oleksandr Usyk. The sports biopic is written, directed and co-produced by Benny Safdie, based on John Hyams’s 2002 documentary film of the same name.
The title opened to generally positive reviews from critics and received a 15-minute prolonged standing ovation after its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 1. Besides one of the longest ovations on the Lido this year, it also won the Silver Lion.