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HOW JOHN CENA AND THE ROCK DID AT THE BOX OFFICE OVER THE WEEKEND

The Suicide Squad, featuring John Cena's excellent performance on The Peacemaker character, either crashed at the box office or did great, depending on who is telling the story.    The film only opened domestically with $25.6 million in 4,002 theaters across the United States.  It was being eyed at hitting at least $30 million internally by WarnerMedia, but obviously the pandemic is still raging with the rise of the Delta Variant, which kept some people home.  WarnerMediaa also made the film available for streaming at 7 PM EST this past Thursday for all HBO Max subscribers, so they could watch it at home literally the exact moment the film began playing in theaters. 

The film was also rated R (and more than earned that rating with all over the over the top, gory kill scenes), so that kept a younger audience at home (especially since they could stream it) vs. previous DC films, which have all been in the PG-13 area.  So, all of that obviously kept the box office down. 

WarnerMedia, however, is touting that the film had the best opening weekend performance of any R-Rated film since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, so as Obi-Wan Kenobi once famously stated, everything is true "from a certain point of view."  Cena will return at Peacemaker in the HBO Max series of the same name later this year.  The Suicide Squad, internationally, has brought in $72,200,000, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com.

Meanwhile, Dwayne Johnson's turn as Frank the Jungle Cruise skipper brought in an estimated $15,693,000 over the weekend at the domestic box office.  The film was down a little over 55% from the week before, less than the 60% that had been estimated.  A lot of that had to do with Dwayne Johnson heavily pushing the film to his social media masses and the fact that it's easily a family-friendly film.  Unlike The Suicide Squad, to stream Jungle Cruise, you'd have to pay an extra $30 to Disney+.  Cruise has made $121,817,454 worldwide according to BoxOfficeMojo.com.

Cena's Fast9, featuring him as the lead villain and the younger brother of Vin Diesel's Dom Toretto, brought in $1,230,000 over the weekend at the box office, the film's seventh week of release.  That film is already officially available for streaming via VOD.  Internationally, it has brought in $661,357,145 at the box office, $171,034,145 of that earned domestically.

The next major film featuring a professional wrestling personality will be Dune, which will open in theaters and debuts on HBO Max for streaming on 10/22.  Bautista will be playing Glossu 'Beast' Rabba, the nephew of the leader of the Harkonnen, who once lorded over Dune.   The character (if they maintain it as it was presented from the original novel in this film adaptation) is a sadist and cruel warrior.   Bautista is one of the top four characters in the film, which reunites him with Blade Runner 2049 director Denis Villeneuve.   The film is an adaptation of the beloved science fiction book series.  A McFarlane Toy Line for the film has already been announced.

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