Why Dwayne Johnson’s 'The Smashing Machine' Is Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place at the Box Office

Happy Friday, fam!

Last night, on the plane back to LA from Boston, I watched Shane Black’s Play Dirty, as well as the new three-part docuseries Cocaine Quarterback, both of which involve Mark Wahlberg and are available on Prime Video.

I thought Play Dirty was OK — about what I expected for a streaming release — and while some of Black’s dialogue still crackles, and the action was better than I anticipated, both the cast and the tone were pretty uneven, resulting in a mixed bag. Still, it’s entertaining enough that it’s worth a watch.

That said, I really liked Cocaine Quarterback, which tells the wild true story of Owen Hanson, a star volleyball player from Redondo Beach who went on to become a walk-on on the USC football teams led by future pros Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush before falling into the drug world and running millions of dollars of cocaine for the largest cartel in the world. It hails from Unrealistic Ideas, the company that Wahlberg runs with Stephen Levinson and my old pal Archie Gips, and they did McMillions, so if you liked that series, or you’re interested in a mix of college football and Narcos, definitely check out Cocaine Quarterback. It’s a fascinating tale, and a pretty quick watch, to boot.

Just before this newsletter went to press, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Fast & Furious franchise is stuck in limbo, as Universal wants to shave $140 million off the budget of the next film — which is exactly what I’ve been saying for months. The studio wants to go back to the basics and make a lean and mean Fast & Furious movie, not a giant international caper with a $300 million budget. There’s no script yet, and the franchise’s expensive star, Vin Diesel, is still in hot water legally, so don’t expect to see Dom Toretto and his family anytime soon.

I do believe that Universal will ultimately give this franchise the send-off it deserves, but only at a reasonable budget, given the declining box office. Furious 7 and The Fate of the Furious made $1.5 billion and $1.2 billion, respectively, while F9 and Fast X landed in the low-$700 million range. What a mess…

It’s Taylor Swift Day today, as way too many people I follow on social media have spent hours listening to her new album and trying their best to decipher the lyrics. Plus, her new movie, Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl, is poised to gross somewhere in the vicinity $30 million this weekend, per Deadline. Not too shabby…

However, I’ll focus on another box office story tonight — that of A24’s The Smashing Machine, starring Dwayne Johnson, whose movie seems to be caught between a rock and a hard place this weekend.

There are also items about the new director of Final Destination 7, the talented stars of Ron Howard’s next film, Tom Holland’s new director, Mark Ronson’s return to Warner Bros., and casting updates on Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil movie as well as the revivals of both Scrubs and The Comeback, plus a look at the trailer for a new serial killer movie from the writer of Se7en.

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