The Rock Took Huge Paycut For Latest Movie

The Rock made a massive sacrifice to get his latest movie made.

During his time away from WWE, The Rock has been focusing on his Hollywood career, which has included portraying troubled UFC star Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine. But he’s already got one eye on his next movie role as he has dramatically slimmed down in recent months.

The Smashing Machine has gained The Rock plenty of praise for his performance, and he’s being tipped for an Oscar nomination. And that might be more than enough to make up for the movie’s box office performance.

Deadline reported that The Smashing Machine’s opening weekend only netted $6 million, the lowest of The Rock’s Hollywood career. While it was unlikely to match major numbers put up by action blockbusters such as San Andreas, at one point the movie was on track to rake in $20 million on its opening weekend.

The Rock Takes A Fraction Of Usual Pay

The report also noted that The Rock took a huge pay cut for the film, taking in a lot less than he’d usually command for a movie:

Johnson took a $4M fee, significantly below his historical $20M+ paycheck plus points. Sources say he even gave a portion of his paycheck to Emily Blunt and [Mark] Kerr.

The film’s losses are believed to be mitigated by tax credits received, with a projected shortfall of $10-$15 million. However, a lot of that depends on how much the studio wants to promote the film ahead of awards season.

The Rock has reacted to the poor box office numbers, and it seems this film means more to him than just what number is on the bottom line.