Dwayne Johnson is one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood, with his films grossing over $10.5 billion worldwide. A former professional wrestler who went by The Rock, Johnson debuted in 2001 with The Mummy Returns. Apart from his wrestling and acting careers, the Black Adam actor also has a production house and is the co-owner of the professional American Football League, XFL.
However, casting Johnson has occasionally been a gamble, despite his status as one of the highest-paid actors, as the Fast Five actor also has a number of box office disasters to his name. His biggest flop failed to even earn $1 million at the box office.
Dwayne Johnson’s Biggest Flop of His Career
After his debut, Dwayne Johnson took on his first lead role in the action-adventure film, The Scorpion King. While his first outing as a lead was successful, the Hobbs & Shaw actor was hit with a string of box-office disappointments in the next few years. His next film The Rundown got favorable reviews but failed to recoup its enormous budget.
Johnson next starred in the disappointing remake of the 1973 cult classic film trilogy, Walking Tall. The Jungle Cruise actor also appeared in the star-studded action comedy Be Cool, which also struggled at the box office primarily due to the big names attached to it. Another big-budget failure followed, his second biggest career flop, Doom, which was based on a video game of the same name. However, the actor didn’t hit ‘rock’ bottom with this film as well.
His biggest flop came right after Doom. Dwayne Johnson was cast in the dystopian black comedy thriller, Southland Tales, which appeared promising on paper but turned out to be disastrous. The film, made on a budget of $17 million, managed to collect a mere $374,743 during its box office run.
What Went Wrong With Dwayne Johnson’s Southland Tales?
Southland Tales was supposed to be Dwayne Johnson’s redemption movie but ended up having the opposite effect. The film directed by Richard Kelly, known for the mind-bending Donnie Darko, boasted a great cast and an intriguing storyline exploring the infotainment industry and American politics in the setting of a dystopian future.
The film’s troubles began when Kelly submitted a rough cut to the organizers at the Cannes Film Festival, hoping that it wouldn’t get selected. However, the organizers loved the movie and wanted it to compete for the prestigious Palme d’Or. Kelly was left with little time to edit and finish the film for the festival. Embarrassingly, Kelly had to send a half-baked movie that was hated at the festival and received a negative word-of-mouth review.
Although the director got some financial help from Sony Pictures to complete the film after agreeing to cut down its length, the damage had already been done. However, some fans of the director defended the movie and Southland Tales has since gained a cult following. Interestingly, Kelly had previously released a director’s cut for Donnie Darko after it developed a cult following.
Dwyane Johnson’s Southland Tales is available for rent on AppleTV.
Source: ScreenRant
