Box Office: Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Lays the Smackdown on The Rock’s ‘Smashing Machine’
Taylor Swift has done it again! Her latest project, The Life of a Showgirl, completely dominated the box office this weekend, earning a stunning $33 million in the U.S. and another $13 million internationally, for a total of $46 million worldwide.
What’s interesting is that Showgirl isn’t your typical concert film or documentary. It’s an 89-minute “cinematic experience” — a creative blend of music videos, behind-the-scenes moments, and lyric visuals celebrating her new album The Life of a Showgirl, which dropped Friday. The event even premiered the music video for her new single “The Fate of Ophelia,” directed by Swift herself.
The film played for only three days (Oct 3–5) but still smashed records, proving once again the unstoppable power of Swift’s fandom. The special release got an A+ CinemaScore, matching the high praise her 2023 Eras Tour concert film received.
Meanwhile, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson faced a tough weekend. His drama The Smashing Machine — inspired by the real-life story of UFC fighter Mark Kerr — opened to just $6 million, marking the weakest wide opening of his career. Despite strong reviews for Johnson’s acting and early Oscar buzz, the film struggled with a lukewarm B CinemaScore and lower-than-expected audience turnout.
The movie, directed by Benny Safdie and co-starring Emily Blunt, was expected to bring in at least double that figure. Analysts say the disappointing start may be due to audience confusion — many fans are used to seeing Johnson in big-budget action roles, not gritty dramas.
In contrast, Taylor Swift’s team once again pulled off a masterclass in marketing. She announced the Showgirl screening event just two weeks before release, offering tickets for $12 at 12:12 local time, a nod to her lucky number 12 and the fact that this is her 12th studio album. Premium large-format screens contributed nearly 28% of the total revenue, showing that fans were happy to pay more for the full experience.
Like her Eras Tour film, Showgirl was distributed outside the Hollywood studio system — this time through AMC Theatres and Variance Films — reinforcing Swift’s reputation as a savvy, independent powerhouse.
Elsewhere at the box office, Leonardo DiCaprio’s new film One Battle After Another from director Paul Thomas Anderson dropped to second place with $11.1 million domestically but has now crossed $100 million globally — a solid milestone.
Despite its slow start, industry insiders say The Smashing Machine could still find its audience through awards buzz, much like The Whale or Uncut Gems, both of which had slow openings before gaining critical acclaim.
But this weekend clearly belonged to Taylor Swift — a pop icon who’s turned movie theaters into her personal stage once again.
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