Dwayne Johnson's Smashing Machine Has Huge Week 2 Box Office Drop

The Smashing Machine is set for a devastating week 2 drop. The new Benny Safdie movie, which stars Dwayne Johnson as UFC champion Mark Kerr, opened in theaters on October 2 and earned a 3-day domestic box office debut of $5.8 million. That marked the worst opening weekend in history for a wide release with Johnson in a lead role.

Per Deadline, as of Saturday morning, The Smashing Machine is projected to earn an additional 3-day total of $1.8 million by the end of its second weekend in theaters. In addition to seeing the movie slide from No. 3 all the way to No. 8 on the domestic chart, this marks a staggering 69% drop for its sophomore weekend.

In addition to being the worst drop for any movie in the domestic Top 10 this weekend, this is the second-worst drop in history for any movie starring Dwayne Johnson in a lead role. Because his worst-ever title remains 2005’s Doom (-72.7%), The Smashing Machine also marks his worst drop in 20 years.

Additionally, 2025’s The Smashing Machine is only Dwayne Johnson’s 10th movie ever to have a week 2 drop of more than 60%. While its sophomore weekend gross could still exceed expectations by the end of Sunday, it seems unlikely to escape his Bottom 5 sophomore drops of all time.

Doing so would require The Smashing Machine to earn $2.1 million this weekend, shrinking its drop to roughly 63.8% and beating 2013’s Fast & Furious 6 (-63.9%). This may be difficult, though it is not impossible, considering the fact that the weekend’s No. 1 blockbuster, Tron: Ares, is underperforming and thus is not providing as much competition as anticipated.

Below, see a breakdown of the 10 worst week 2 drops for any movie starring Dwayne Johnson in a lead role:

One thing that could help The Smashing Machine power through is the fact that the Dwayne Johnson movie has strong reviews, having earned a Certified Fresh score of 72% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes with an even stronger 77% score from audiences.

It could also earn a significant boost if the buzz around Johnson’s performance ends up earning him a Best Actor nomination at the 2026 Academy Awards. However, The Smashing Machine reportedly cost $50 million, and its current trajectory, given this brutal drop, shows that it’s unlikely to ever make back its budget in theaters, let alone hit its break-even point.

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