There are some myths you hear repeated so many times during your life, you assume they must be true.
People should drink eight glasses of water per day.
George Washington had wooden teeth.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is America’s favorite actor.
About that last one: Hollywood has clung to this tenet like fingers to a cliffside the last 10 years. It’s mystifying. I’ve never been anywhere that I’ve heard so much of a whisper of, “I love the Rock.”
Perhaps I’ve just been wandering into to the wrong places, like organic wine bars.
But, no. The 54-year-old wrestler-turned-thespian — wrespian? — consistently underwhelms where it matters most: at the box office. And yet he’s still one of Hollywood’s highest paid performers. In 2024, Johnson actually held the No. 1 slot, taking home a reported $88 million.
It sure does pay to be the Scorpion King of Flops.
The guy’s made so many bombs, he could be a weapons factory.
Johnson’s latest project to get KO punched was last weekend’s “Moana,” Disney’s live-action remake of the 2016 cartoon, which had a three-day domestic opening of just $43 million and a RottenTomatoes score of 31%. These are existential crisis numbers.
Conservative estimates have the disaster losing $100-125 million for the studio. The video clip of Johnson’s character Maui’s song “You’re Welcome,” which has been widely shared online, will have you losing your lunch.
“Moana” isn’t an isolated island for the Rock either.
His last five years, save for a couple voice roles, have been littered with duds.
The Christmas brick of coal “Red One” in 2024, the year Johnson was top paid, grossed a measly $186 million against a massive budget of more than $200 million.
The godawful DC Comics movie “Black Adam,” in which Johnson barely moved his face in the title role, was another bomb — and one of the final nails in the DC Extended Universe coffin.
Disney’s family friendly “Jungle Cruise” and the comedy “Free Guy” added to the resume of financial failures. His snooze-o-rama attempt at a prestige picture in 2025, “The Smashing Machine,” got neither butts in seats nor an Oscar nomination for him.
Why is the Rock tumbling?
The man is facing several sudden hurdles.
One is that good acting appeals forever, while fun personalities do not. Johnson is a star, not an actor, and the public chews up personas and spits ‘em out without a second thought.
His monotonous, macho, eyebrow-dependent performances have worn thin. And his repetitive schtick, much as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s was after a while, is of a different time. Sorry, Dwayne, the culture has moved on. You should’ve ran for governor of California.
Another problem is a shift no one saw coming. Gen. Z has put down their phones and are actually going to the movies. In fact, the young cohort is the most active moviegoing demographic today, with an April Fandango survey reporting that 87% of Gen Zers have attended a film in the last 12 months.
The Rock made his first flick, “The Scorpion King, in 2002, when the oldest Gen Z members were only five years old. They don’t remember, know or care aobut his WWE days, where his nickname came from and when his fanbase was cemented.
Of his original diehards, Gen X and Boomers, respectively 70% and 58% have been to the cinema in the past year.
And Johnson’s not to Gen. Z’s taste at all. They’re going to see clever, authentic megahits like “Backrooms” and “Obsession” — not the regurgitated worm slop that Johnson cherishes.
Really, I don’t see Johnson ever returning in triumph to his former heights of stardom. Not in a world where the major draws are Tom Holland, Zendaya and Timothee Chalamet.
Or maybe The Rock’s lousy box-office fortunes will reverse when “Jumanji: Open World” hits theaters this Christmas.
Perhaps. For now, though, his Hollywood career is an open wound.
