What is Dwayne Johnson's highest-grossing movie? Actor opens up about the disappointing box office debut of "The Smashing Machine"

Dwayne Johnson’s latest movie, The Smashing Machine, directed by Benny Safdie, reportedly didn't do well at its box office debut. According to Mandatory, the movie had a $5.9 million opening domestically. This was reportedly the lowest opening in the actor’s career so far. According to IMDb, Furious 7 was the highest-grossing movie in Johnson’s career, with $1.51 billion worldwide gross.

Meanwhile, the actor-cum-wrestler shared an Instagram post on October 7, writing:

“From deep in my grateful bones, thank you to everyone who has watched “The Smashing Machine”. In our storytelling world, you can’t control box office results — but what I realized you can control is your performance, and your commitment to completely disappear and go elsewhere. And I will always run to that opportunity.”

Johnson added:

“It was my honor to transform in this role for my director Benny Safdie @bowedtie. Thank you brother for believing in me. Truth is this film has changed my life.”

The production amount for the movie was $50 million. According to Variety, the movie aimed for $8 million to $15 million during its debut. The movie is based on the life and career of former wrestler Mark Kerr.

Speaking to Sports Illustrated recently, Dwayne Johnson said:

“I felt like I had to do this. And this was the great challenge of my life, of my career. This was a very physical transformation. This guy's body is crazy. In his prime, he was 270-275 pounds, just a unicorn of a [body] with fast-twitch fibers. Benny said ‘I don't know how to actually say this to you, but I think you're going to have to get bigger.’”

Dwayne Johnson talks about The Smashing Machine’s reception

Dwayne Johnson was a recent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where Fallon read out a few reviews for The Smashing Machine and also the 15-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival. He said that he didn’t expect any specific reaction from people since it was a new experience for him. When Johnson went to the Venice Film Festival, he felt excited but nervous because the movie was competing there.

As he saw other films getting long-standing ovations, he wondered if his movie would get even a short one. Dwayne Johnson even joked that he might have to start clapping for himself if no one else did. Speaking about the film's reception, he said:

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“It's a very intense, emotional film. And I was so happy for him, for Mark, because it was his validation that despite your struggles, despite the fact you overdosed twice and you're still here, he's lucky to be alive, things turned out okay, and you are an inspiration to everybody. So that's what that applause meant.”

Dwayne Johnson said that for the movie, he went through big physical, emotional, and vocal changes. He wore about 22 pieces of prosthetic makeup made by an award-winning artist and gained over 30 pounds of muscle. Even with the extra weight, he still had to move like a professional MMA fighter.

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