RED ONE Star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson Mocked For Sharing Bizarre Story About Watching OPPENHEIMER In IMAX

RED ONE Star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson Mocked For Sharing Bizarre Story About Watching OPPENHEIMER In IMAX

It hasn't been the easiest couple of years for Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, and the pro wrestler and Hollywood A-Lister has been mocked on social media for linking his Oppenheimer experience to Red One.

By JoshWilding - Nov 14, 2024 11:11 AM EST
Filed Under: Fantasy

There was a time when Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson could do no wrong. Having conquered the world of pro wrestling, he quickly established himself as a Hollywood A-Lister and was widely credited with saving the struggling Fast & Furious franchise. 

Few of Johnson's movies have been critical darlings, but the vast majority have been crowd-pleasing box office hits. In 2022, Black Adam was meant to launch a new DCEU revolving around the actor; instead, it flopped, and things haven't gone particularly well for him since. 

His missteps range from the XFL's struggles to Young Rock's cancellation and the way he was rejected by many WWE fans this year (his return, which saw him attempt to take Cody Rhodes' place at WrestleMania, remains the most disliked YouTube video in the company's history).

The Rock is still incredibly successful, of course, and plans to take on his first true serious role with A24's The Smashing Machine. However, his latest big budget effort, Red One, has proven to be another critical and commercial let-down.

Perhaps that's why a new IMAX featurette is receiving so much attention on social media. 

In the video, Johnson says that a screening of Oppenheimer - which saw The Rock sit specifically in Christopher Nolan's seat - left him with the belief that, should his upcoming movie Red One use the same technology, it could be "game over."

"With ‘Red One,’ our intention was to make a movie that you can enjoy on the biggest screen possible," he says. "Legitimately the biggest screens possible are Imax. I was midway through shooting 'Red One' and I had an opportunity to see 'Oppenheimer.' I watched in the IMAX theater where Christopher Nolan watches and screens his movies."

"Him and Emma [Thomas], his wife. I even asked to let me sit where Chris sits. They said, 'Chris sits here.' I watch 'Oppenheimer.' It was amazing, but I was thinking: 'Holy shit. 'Red One' on this screen and with this technology could be game over,'" Johnson continued. "I remember texting [director Jake Kasdan] a picture of my bare chest and a picture of the screen and we realized how cool [IMAX] would be."

While you try and figure out why Johnson sent Kasdan a photo of his bare chest, we'll remind you that Red One's budget was $250 million...and it only made $26 million at the international box office this past weekend. It's eyeing a soft $20 million haul in North America and has 35% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Here are The Rock's comments in full along with some of the best reactions to those on social media.

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NinnesMBC
NinnesMBC - 11/14/2024, 11:22 AM
Yeah I read it last night, it's amusing. Never say he doesn't have ambition though.

I wonder how he'll fare in the next coming months when his "Fighting Machine" biopic (?) from A24 comes out, maybe by then the conversation about him will change a bit.
Taonrey
Taonrey - 11/14/2024, 11:57 AM
@NinnesMBC - he really does need a role that’s just not him playing himself. Maybe that fighting machine movie will do it. He’s 100% capable but has just decided not to
KennKathleen
KennKathleen - 11/14/2024, 12:53 PM
@NinnesMBC - Make The Rock the New Terminator.
PartyKiller
PartyKiller - 11/14/2024, 5:58 PM
@KennKathleen - The way Arnold played the character in T1, is beyond the Rock's abilities. He could do the commercialized version in T2 though.
KennKathleen
KennKathleen - 11/14/2024, 6:52 PM
@PartyKiller - I believe he'd be a pleasant surprise, plus the villain arc could work wonders for his career.
QuietStorm
QuietStorm - 11/14/2024, 11:24 AM
The Rock watching Oppenheimer on that glorious screen:
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Deklipz
Deklipz - 11/14/2024, 11:25 AM
The budget for RedOne was 250$m? Are you [frick]ing serious? Who the [frick] thought this would be a billion dollar movie or are they just using the rock to launder money?
elcapitan
elcapitan - 11/14/2024, 11:40 AM
@Deklipz - and why would they release a Christmas movie this early? Maybe if this came out the week of Christmas it would have done better. But $250M is crazy.
Deklipz
Deklipz - 11/14/2024, 12:10 PM
@elcapitan - they should have dropped it thanksgiving weekend. The entire thing looks like an engineered failure. Overpriced stars, shoddy fx work, REALLY poor release date. It’s like they wanted to throw away 250$m. They’ll likely cover marketing costs and some of production but they’re going to loose their balls on this.
WEAPONXOXOXO
WEAPONXOXOXO - 11/14/2024, 12:34 PM
@Deklipz - Well..

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But I also thought The Marvels was a billion dollar movie


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RedFury
RedFury - 11/14/2024, 12:36 PM
@Deklipz - it has to be some sort of money scheme to get the right people paid and keep business going. I don't see how else all these giant stinkers keep getting made on massive budgets. The statistics are there to show that they likely won't be big hits..

But then again Amazon has more money than God, so they probably don't really care all that much how good or bad it does.
Deklipz
Deklipz - 11/14/2024, 8:33 PM
@WEAPONXOXOXO - Marvels was a solid flick and suffered from external bullshit. Had they marketed it differently and parked it in a different date it could/would have done much better. They also weren’t prepared for the misogynistic backlash. Whether it actually contributed to its failure or not is a separate conversation. This is suffering the same way. Bad timing schedule-wise and bullshit surrounding the main lead. Again, liking or disliking the rock is beside the point. He’s surrounded by negativity right now and tossing Chris Evans in as a tag-along isn’t going to deflect anything. He’s a draw on his own, but his popularity will be overshadowed by the rocks negative light at the moment.
Deklipz
Deklipz - 11/14/2024, 8:38 PM
@RedFury - I forgot it was Amazon to be honest. It’s likely just to soak costs from something else rather than nefarious money laundering. If it were a studio dependent on hits like Warner or Sony where they’re in danger of loosing everything with the wrong moves I would say laundering. This is likely just an accounting balance with the bonus of locking the rock in for a couple movies in the cheap-ish while he tries to regab his career
WEAPONXOXOXO
WEAPONXOXOXO - 11/15/2024, 9:59 AM
@Deklipz -

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Deklipz
Deklipz - 11/16/2024, 11:03 AM
@WEAPONXOXOXO - Amazon doesn’t need it to do well in theaters. It’ll push views when it hits the service. That’s what hasn’t been discussed here. We’ve been discussing the shitty performance and bad release placement but the release means it’ll be on disc and streaming right at/before Christmas. That’s where they’ll recoup the costs. They’ll get to avoid giving Rick a huge chunk of theatrical bonuses for performance, break even at least, and likely have him under contract for a couple more movies. As long as it does decent on home release they’re ahead in every sense. If the rocks career doesn’t recover they just don’t use him. If it does they got him cheaper than normal.
ShimmyShimmyYA
ShimmyShimmyYA - 11/14/2024, 11:28 AM
Part of the rocks problem is he talks like a VC all the time. Movies are for storytelling and immersion, he’s sounds like a corporate exec every single time he promotes his movies.

Like it all sounds like marketing / product talk from him 24/7.

Patrick Willems made a video about this
Forthas
Forthas - 11/14/2024, 11:33 AM
I don't think it is as weird as it reads. I think he is trying to name drop Christopher Nolan (arguably the IMAX king) in a way to make a suggestive connection to his movies. As if watching Red One would be like watching a Christopher Nolan film. His reference to him sending a picture of his bare chest appears to maybe an inside joke between the two.
DocSpock
DocSpock - 11/14/2024, 11:44 AM

Self-loving meathead makes another big loud bad movie. What's new?
Spoken
Spoken - 11/14/2024, 11:44 AM
I remember texting [director Jake Kasdan] a picture of my bare chest and a picture of the screen and we realized how cool [IMAX] would be."

LMFAO, Jake getting sexting messages from Dwayne but then uses IMAX as an excuse LMAO.

Man what a laugh...............still not watching Red One......

SATW42
SATW42 - 11/14/2024, 11:54 AM
Man, I didn't think "defending the Rock" would be on my end of 2024 bingo card, but here we are.

First off, He's trying to sell his movie, and the Rock only goes big and talks in hyperbole. It's what he does.

Second, @joshwilding I think you might fundamentally misunderstand wrestling. Yes, fans weren't happy with the move to take Cody's spot, but once they pivoted to heel Rock, the buildup to wrestlemania was legendary and many people agree it was some of the Rock's and WWE's best work. People still want to see Rock vs Roman, or a Rock Cody rematch. The fans turned on the Rock for like a week, and then when everyone gave the fans what they wanted, the fans ate it up. WWE fans aren't over the rock, they just don't want him coming in and stealing top spots from someone who was literally in the middle of long form story telling. Everytime you've written about the Rock's downfall, you bring up the wrestlemania thing, or the video with the dislikes, without giving any context to what lead to that moment, or what happened after that moment. I will grant you he became a meme in the wrestling community when he tried to take all the credit for wrestlemania with people using his image and saying things like "And then I told Armstrong, you should say one small step for man..." but the second his music hits when he returns, the crowd is going to go nuts for him again.

third, the bare chest thing, to me it sounds like "imagine this on that" Which is very on brand for the Rock. The only weird thing about it is he's talking about it like the idea of him on an imax screen is new, plenty of his movies have been on imax screens, and he's talking about it like it was shot for IMAX, it wasn't and didn't use IMAX cameras.
JoshWilding
JoshWilding - 11/14/2024, 1:05 PM
@SATW42 - I'd agree that casual fans embraced the Heel Rock persona, but the majority of "smart" fans (the IWC, I guess) are of the opinion he only pivoted to that role out of necessity and rolled their eyes at how he put himself over with the social media promos and that ridiculous People's Champion belt.

His return was a success, yes, but like Black Adam, he came back and tried to make it all about himself...and changed course when he realised he was about to have another fanbase fully turn on him. Don't forget, he also became a meme for the sheer amount of BS he spewed in a WrestleMania documentary which was delayed to make him look better.

As a lifelong wrestling fan, I'm very much over The Rock, personally.
SATW42
SATW42 - 11/14/2024, 1:18 PM
@JoshWilding - I take the IWC as seriously as you take the commentors to this site lmao
JoshWilding
JoshWilding - 11/14/2024, 1:23 PM
@SATW42 - That's a fair one. 😂 You make lots of valid points, anyway. I used to be The Rock's biggest fan but I don't think he's a good guy at all. Just very artificial. This Oppenheimer thing is being blown out of proportion a tad, but it shows that people will take any excuse to pile on. He needs to reinvent himself.
SATW42
SATW42 - 11/14/2024, 1:36 PM
@JoshWilding - also, how exactly is the XFL struggling? He and partners still own 50% of what is now the UFL after the XFL and USFL merged, and the UFL is owned by XFL industries or properties whatever the hell it's called.

Yes the league lost money, but ESPN and now Fox both said they found it successful, with fox saying it actually bounced back in 2024 post merger faster than they expected with analysts saying 2025 should see more gains.

I'm also not even sure apart from putting money into it and being a face, just how much he has to do with it.
SATW42
SATW42 - 11/14/2024, 1:39 PM
@JoshWilding - I hear ya, I just think the pile on is growing increasingly over the top.

I also am a wrestling fan who didn't like when he took the spot from Cody but LOVED Final Boss Rock. I was over good guy, guitar playing rock and loved the long awaited return of heel rock. His personality just works better that way.

I don't think he's a "bad guy" I think he's ego driven and talks like a marketing ai, but I don't think he's inherently "bad" I think he does alot of good with his fame and money also
dragon316
dragon316 - 11/14/2024, 11:55 AM
Will still red one like movies he’s in yeah wrestlers in movies are predictable always have include some wrestling move one way or another rock movies I like there fun to watch that’s all it matters in entertainment fun with it not nit pick
Order66
Order66 - 11/14/2024, 12:05 PM
Sometimes I think rock gets in his own head. He’s always thinking 4 steps ahead I think sometimes he needs to stop, think, and see what’s in front of him. I’m a big fan of his since I’m a lifelong WWE fan. Most of his movies are enjoyable and entertaining.
slickrickdesigns
slickrickdesigns - 11/14/2024, 12:08 PM
The Rock needs to work on his range… dudes like Tugg Speedman.
WEAPONXOXOXO
WEAPONXOXOXO - 11/14/2024, 12:29 PM
Josh is mocked all the time. Where's THAT article.
TiberiousOmega
TiberiousOmega - 11/14/2024, 12:32 PM
I wonder what happened to his Fast and Furious sequel. As much as I disliked Black Adam, I think he’s great in the Fast movies. Especially the first one he did (Fast 5).
TheNewYorker
TheNewYorker - 11/14/2024, 12:42 PM
I’m really surprised people aren’t over the rock at this point.
Kadara
Kadara - 11/14/2024, 12:52 PM
Is there an agenda against The Rock now? A lot of articles attacking his character all of a sudden seems weird.
folieaturd
folieaturd - 11/14/2024, 12:53 PM
His narcissism is reaching concerning levels
Mercwitham0uth
Mercwitham0uth - 11/14/2024, 12:57 PM
[frick]ing hell.

Soon as I saw the first trailer for this movie I cringed. It looks pretty bad.
WEAPONXOXOXO
WEAPONXOXOXO - 11/14/2024, 12:58 PM
Nothing wrong with what he said. There are times I'm watching an IMAX movie and I "exclusively" think,

"A blowjob? Right now. With this technology."
JayLemle
JayLemle - 11/14/2024, 1:21 PM
WHOA! What a time to be alive! If this were 2017, I'd be thinking Dwayne Johnson was untouchable. He and Kevin Hart were celebs that could do no wrong. Hart's hype has just passed. However, Johnson's reputation continues to take a hit. Or, people are trying to, at least (the pee-bottle story). If his reputations gets any weirder, he will Jonathan Majors'd himself out of the Industry, LOL.
Ha1frican
Ha1frican - 11/14/2024, 1:25 PM
The amount of arrogance it takes to say that with a straight face lol
NodrickStripson
NodrickStripson - 11/14/2024, 2:08 PM
God, he’s weird… I mean he’s really weird.
LSHF
LSHF - 11/14/2024, 3:17 PM
My only comment is that I don't understand what he meant by, "game over".
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