The Rock's 'Skyscraper' bombs in the US

Skyscraper (Credit: Universal)
Skyscraper (Credit: Universal)

Could we be in the first throes of Rock Fatigue?

It’s a horrible thought, but Skyscraper, the Die-Hard-esque, mixed-use development-based action movie starring Dwayne Johnson has fallen at the first hurdle.

It finds The Rock’s amputee former FBI agent trying to stop a terrorist attack on the newly built, tallest skyscraper in the world.

Opening in 57 countries this weekend, it’s made a lowly $65 million so far, with just $25 million of that coming from the US box office.

On its opening night last Thursday, it made just $1.95 million.


That’s a notably poor turnout for a movie starring The Rock, and could mean that it could struggle to bring in its $125 million budget (plus around the same amount for marketing and advertising).

It even landed in third place in the US box office chart, behind Hotel Transylvania 3, and Ant-Man and The Wasp, which has already been out since the beginning of July.

So could we be seeing some kind of mild kick-back against the planet’s favourite action hero?

Skyscraper’s uninspiring bow has followed a couple of similarly under-performing projects, in recent years.

Disaster movie San Andreas in 2015, while just profitable, failed to provide memorable returns, while Baywatch performed even worse.

Meanwhile, Rampage, the vaguely video game-based monster movie from earlier this year, only just broke the $400 million barrier.

Other factors may be slightly more likely Rock fatigue, however, such as the worldwide heatwave, and the movie debuting on the weekend of the World Cup Final.

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