After the underwhelming turnout of Bret Ratner's Hercules, there were doubts whether Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson could actually star a movie without having to be in an ensemble with other stars such as with the Fast and Furious and GI Joe flicks, Boxofficemojo.com reports.
'San Andreas', a movie about a massive earthquake that struck California, and The Rock having to save his family from the disaster, was a surprise hit with a whopping $53.215 million weekend domestic debut - $3.1M Thursday bow, $18.2M on Friday, to about $20.5M on Saturday -- this is considered to be a large debut for a disaster film that does not involve monsters or aliens, according to Forbes.com. The movie, which is a collaboration of Warner Bros./New Line Cinema/Time Warner Entertainment and released by New Line, Village Roadshow, and Rat Pac was estimated to have cost $100 million to produce.
The movie is foreseen to continue its box office reign for the weeks to come with a $14,000 per theatre average in estimated 3,777 venues; such is attributed to 3D effects and A- cinema score, as reported by Boxofficemojo.
According to the website, Johnson without fail did what he always does for his films and did above-average during the marketing and promotion of the movie and this paid off not only for him but also for the movie's director, Brad Peyton. The two have previously collaborated for Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, which also did surprisingly well to the tune of $27 million in February 2012, which was an "all by myself" unqualified blockbuster for the Hollywood star.
San Andreas undoubtedly dominated the US box office, and this is despite the stinging reviews from film critics. Here are some of them as listed in an article by news.com.au:
Joe Morgenstern from The Wall Street Journal: "San Andreas changes all too quickly from satisfyingly foolish to dismayingly dumb to genuinely stupid."
Peter Travers from Rolling Stone: "An earthquake wipes out a fat chunk of California in San Andreas, but that's nothing compared to the destruction rained down on your brain cells by this movie's idiotically hilarious dialogue."
Wendy Ide from The Times: "It doesn't bode well when a movie that will sink or swim entirely on its CGI technology can't even manage a convincingly Photoshopped family portrait."
Julia Cooper from The Globe and Mail: "Between its steroidic CGI and emotionally vacant plot line, the movie is all flex, no muscle."
Brian Truitt from USA Today: "The cleverest San Andreas gets is surrounding a guy nicknamed "The Rock" with a heap of falling boulders."
