The reception The Rock recently received for his new film brought him to tears this week, and is creating serious Oscar buzz for the WWE legend.
Over the weekend, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson premiered his new film, The Smashing Machine, at the Venice Film Festival. Even before it was showcased, he made headlines for his shocking weight loss for the movie. However, it seems the effort to lose a ton of weight to play UFC veteran Mark Kerr in the biopic was worth the effort.
On Monday night, the wrestling icon was brought to tears as he and other members of the cast and crew received a 15-minute standing ovation during the end credits of the movie. And it seems there are many more in the industry who believe the film has serious awards season potential.
Variety has already touted The Rock’s potential as an early favorite to win the Best Actor Award and the 2026 Oscars. And the picture has an impressive 84% score after 19 critical reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. The positive word of mouth about the movie comes at a key time for the WWE legend.
Smashing Machine sets up a huge Hollywood bounceback for The Rock
Over the last 20 years, The Rock has evolved into one of the biggest stars in the world. After some early struggles in Hollywood, he has been smarter about the roles he took on and has become a money-making machine for various studios in the business. However, he has hit another career bump in the road this decade.
He has had far less success at the box office in recent years, and Black Adam being a major disappointment created a negative narrative about him since he was a driving force behind the Warner Bros. film. Things have gotten so rough for the TKO Group Holdings board member that the Hollywood Reporter ranked him second behind Batista among the various wrestlers who have become actors.
That is why the positive reviews and opinions about the Smashing Machine come at a pivotal moment for the 53-year-old. He doesn’t even need to win an Oscar, because just being nominated will thrust him back into the forefront of the industry and open the door to many new opportunities outside of just being the lead in action movies. It will also give him continued leverage to control his future. A rarity in Hollywood.
