5 biggest flops of Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's Hollywood career

Dwayne Johnson, more popularly referred to as The Rock by WWE fans, is a future Hall of Famer in the Stamford-based promotion and also a widely acclaimed film personality. It might even be safe to say that Johnson is possibly the most successful actor to come from a professional wrestling background.

In his career in Hollywood, Johnson featured in some top movies like Fast & Furious 6, and 7, and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. However, there were also some films that he featured in that did not do very well at the box office and were deemed flops.

In this article, we will look at five of the biggest flops of The Rock's movie career:

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#5. The Rock's Be Cool

In 2005, The Rock was featured in a movie named Be Cool, which starred the likes of Cedric The Entertainer, Vince Vaughn, and John Travolta, to name a few. Even though the film had a huge cast and was based on a popular novel of the same name, nothing could save it from being a flop.

The movie had a budget of $75 million, and it earned back $95 million. However, the critical response to the film was not the best, and it received an IMDB rating of 5.6 out of 10.

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#4. Walking Tall

An action drama named Walking Tall dazzled Hollywood in 1973. This movie, which starred Joe Don Baker in the lead role, was made with a budget of $500,000, but at the box office, it made $40 million, which speaks a lot about its profitability.

However, the same can't be said for the movie's 2004 remake with the same name, which featured The Rock. The 2004 Walking Tall was made with a budget of $46 million and earned $57.2 million at the box office.

This slim profit margin, mixed with several negative reviews, makes the film another Johnson flop.

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#3. The Rundown

Unlike the films discussed above, which at least made profits, The Rundown, starring The Rock, failed to break even.

An action-adventure set in the Amazon Jungle, The Rundown was made with a budget of $85 million. However, the movie could only make $80.9 million at the box office. The one thing many fans liked about the movie was the jungle scenes it had but apart from that, the film was a major letdown for his fans based on the review it received.

Despite the uninspiring numbers, there were talks of a possible sequel until 2020, but there have been no developments since.

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#2. Black Adam

When it was announced The Rock would be playing Black Adam in the DC Universe, fans were excited to see how he would adapt to this role. While he did a good job of portraying the character, the movie by itself was a letdown and did not live up to expectations.

Made with a budget of $260 million, the film earned $393.3 million at the box office. However, it was not received well critically, with many fans feeling that the movie failed to entertain audiences in a way a DC movie should have.

While Black Adam was supposed to be massive for The Rock, it's considered a big failure.

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#1. Southland Tales

A sci-fi comedy, Southland Tales is arguably one of The Rock's biggest flops commercially and critically. This movie, directed by Richard Kelly, was made with a budget of $17 million but earned only $374,743 at the box office. The numbers blatantly indicate the losses incurred.

One of the major reasons why this movie tanked at the box office was probably because of the negative reviews it received upon its release. Even on IMDB, Southland Tales received a rating of 5.3 out of 10. Overall, it simply is not the best depiction of Dwayne Johnson's filmography.

However, while some of The Rock's movies did flop, it's important to note that overall, he made quite a name for himself as an actor and featured in massive hits too. In 2024, 2025, and 2026, The Final Boss has a total of four films releasing and it will be interesting to see how they perform at the box office.