Dwayne Johnson’s $21M Box Office Bomb Is A Must-See Following Oscars Snub

Few movies released in 2025 feel more unfairly treated than A24’s The Smashing Machine. Despite Dwayne Johnson delivering what is inarguably the performance of his career, the sports biopic underperformed at the worldwide box office, grossing just $21 million against a roughly $50 million budget (via Box Office Mojo).

What’s worse, The Smashing Machine’s bad luck hasn’t let up. Early awards buzz and predictions of Oscar nominations for the movie’s cast and crew simply didn’t materialize. Even as word spread about the solid performances of the cast and the creative vision of director Benny Safdie, the MMA biopic has been all but snubbed at the Academy Awards.

It’s an incredible shame. The Smashing Machine is an exceptional drama that resonates both with fans of sports films and general viewers alike. The fact that it’s currently the #1 movie on HBO Max (via Flix Patrol), eclipsing even Oscar darling Sinners, shows that audiences connected deeply with the material, making the lack of Academy recognition for both the film and its standout performances all the harder to swallow.

What The Smashing Machine Is About

Dwayne Johnson’s Biopic Recounts The Rise And Fall Of MMA Pioneer Mark Kerr

Dwayne Johnson as Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine

Like many of the best sports dramas, The Smashing Machine is based on a true story. The 2025 Dwayne Johnson movie brings the tumultuous life of Mark Kerr to screens. Mark Kerr, a former amateur wrestler turned mixed martial arts legend, was an incredibly complex figure whose rise in combat competition was as compelling as his personal struggles were devastating.

Directed and written by Benny Safdie, The Smashing Machine follows Kerr from his early success and grueling fight schedule through his battles with injuries, addiction, and the emotional toll of life both inside and outside the ring. However, the movie steers away from the usual triumph-over-adversity sports formula.

Instead, The Smashing Machine delivers a raw portrait of an MMA fighter who finds that victory and pain are often inseparable. Kerr’s competitive peak in Japan’s PRIDE Fighting Championship and his emotionally strained relationship with Dawn Staples (played by Emily Blunt) form the narrative core, illustrating how his personal demons often mirrored his physical battles.

Mark Kerr’s real story is a rich tapestry of grit and vulnerability, and The Smashing Machine portrays this incredibly well. Once a dominant force in the early days of MMA, Dwayne Johnson captures Kerr’s troubled relationship with his career as he grapples with chronic pain and opioid dependency stemming from repeated injuries.

Ben Safdie’s directorial decisions emphasize emotional authenticity over spectacle. Instead of glitzy montage sequences, the film opts for intimate scenes that delve into Kerr’s internal conflict, making audiences feel the weight of every punch, setback, and choice. The result is a sports drama anchored not by glossy clichés but by a deeply human story, one anchored by Dwayne Johnson’s incredible character work.

How Dwayne Johnson Became Mark Kerr

The Former WWE Superstar Transformed Physically And Emotionally Into MME Legend Mark Kerr

Mark Kerr recuperating in a ring corner in The Smashing Machine

To portray MMA pioneer Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine, Dwayne Johnson undertook one of the most intensive transformations of his career. Ahead of production, he immersed himself in MMA training, adopting a regimented routine that included weight work, cardio, and actual cage time with seasoned fighters (via ESPN).

This preparation was designed not just to build muscle but to capture the physicality and movement patterns of a real elite competitor. In conjunction with this, Johnson also worked with a vocal coach to adapt Kerr’s softer, more introspective speech patterns, distancing his performance from his usual commanding persona.

This vocal shift helped reinforce the emotional vulnerability at the core of Kerr’s story, providing a striking contrast to Dwayne Johnson’s previous action-hero roles. However, it wasn’t just the way Kerr moved and sounded Johnson needed to capture. His transformation was visual too, and this aspect is another way The Smashing Machine shines.

A crucial element of the transformation involved prosthetic work by veteran makeup artist Kazu Hiro, whose previous work includes Bradley Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein in Maestro. Over three hours of daily application, dozens of individual prosthetic pieces reshaped Johnson’s appearance, from cauliflower ears to sarcasm, enabling him to embody Kerr’s look without obscuring emotional expression.

The results of this layered approach is nothing short of incredible. Dwayne Johnson doesn’t just wear Kerr’s physique; he inhabits it. His body language, gait, and subtle gestures reflect an athlete who has lived under the relentless pressure of competition.

Beyond physical mimicry, Dwayne Johnson’s performance channels the psychological depths of a fighter burdened by pain, addiction, and the search for identity beyond the cage. This layered portrayal is almost inarguably the most emotionally resonant of his career, and has cemented Johnson as a credible actor capable of much more than his usual action movie roles.

The Smashing Machine Was Snubbed At The Oscars

Academy Awards Hopes For Dwayne Johnson Fizzled With Only A Makeup Nomination

Mark Kerr lifting a belt in The Smashing Machine

Going into awards season, The Smashing Machine was widely expected to be a contender in multiple categories at the Academy Awards. Dwayne Johnson’s gritty, career-best performance and Emily Blunt’s emotionally charged turn led many pundits to predict nominations at the Oscars. Since both Johnson and Blunt earned Golden Globe nods, optimism was running high.

Sadly, when the 98th Academy Award nominations were announced, the film’s presence was minimal. The only Oscar nomination it received was for Best Makeup and Hairstyling – specifically honoring Kazu Hiro’s prosthetics that helped Johnson disappear into the role of Mark Kerr. As deserving as Hiro is for his work, the lack of further nominations for The Smashing Machine falls far short of expectations for the movie’s creative achievements.

Most notably, Johnson was entirely shut out of the Best Actor category despite being a frontrunner in early awards season discussions. Co-star Blunt also missed out, leaving many stunned by the Academy’s oversight.

The snub underscores a broader trend where critically acclaimed but underperforming box office films struggle to maintain awards momentum. Despite its strengths in performance, direction, and emotional depth, The Smashing Machine simply didn’t secure the widespread institutional support necessary to break through in the most competitive categories.

Still, the makeup nomination stands as a testament to the craft that supported the film’s immersive world, and how effectively Dwayne Johnson aesthetically fit the role of Mark Kerr. What’s more, the conversation created by the lack of top-tier Oscar recognition almost amplifies the sense that The Smashing Machine deserves a second look from audiences.