In my last blog, I was talking about how former WWE superstar Dwayne Johnson is reinventing himself into a movie star. First, he took on a bunch of action roles, understandable given his former profession.
Then he starred in Disney’s The Game Plan. This was the perfect meld of the old Dwayne and the new Dwayne. He played a narcissistic football star (he played college football for the University of Miami) who unexpectedly finds out he has a daughter. Maybe this role hit close to home for Dwayne because he has a daughter of his own, Simone Alexandra. Proving he could carry a movie, The Game Plan, which was made on an estimated budget of $22 million, has brought in $90 million domestically and $144 million worldwide so far.
Dwayne has proved over and over that he doesn’t have to be the star of the film either. He has a small role in Get Smart, which just opened and so far has grossed $157 million. Up next is another Disney film – Race to Witch Mountain, a remake of the 1975 film Escape to Witch Mountain. It is scheduled to be released next March. Dwayne is also working on the animated film Planet 51 in which he will voice the character Capt. Charles “Chuck” Baker. He has two films in pre-production – Tooth Fairy (in which he will play the Tooth Fairy), and Billy Batson and the Legend of Shazam (in which he will play Black Adam).
Dwayne has a busy, busy filming schedule, but why him? Other WWE stars, including Hulk Hogan (Mr. Nanny), Roddy Piper (They Live), Jesse Ventura (Predator), Randy Savage (Spider-Man), Steve Austin (The Condemned), and John Cena (The Marine) have all made the leap to movies. Each has done okay but none has enjoyed the success that Dwayne has.
I think this is for several reasons. First of all, Dwayne has that charming smile and is definitely easy on the eyes, so that gets the female vote. But, he has done enough action films to get the male vote. He can easily poke fun of himself and is approachable, so there is the kid vote. He doesn’t mind expanding his roles and he definitely seems to be as driven to make it in the movie world as he was in the wrestling world. I think we will be seeing Dwayne Johnson in films as long as he continues to want to make them.