Dwayne Johnson’s Path to Solo Stardom Is Still Rocky

This weekend saw the release of Hercules, the latest bid for solo superstardom for wrestling-legend-turned-action-star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Now, more than a decade into his film career, the actor has reached Hollywood’s top tier: aided by last summer’s smash Fast & Furious 6, he was the top-grossing star of 2013, with his four films taking a total gross of $1.3 billion. 

And yet there remains doubt over whether he’s the true heir to Ahnuld, Sly, and the other action stars of yore. So far, Johnson’s biggest hits have seen him piggybacking on top of established franchises, while his solo vehicles — including last year’s Snitch — tended to underperform.Hercules is the latest in that line. The film’s $29 million opening is decent, but it’s clear that Paramount was hoping for numbers closer to the debut weekends of 2006’s 300 ($70 million) or 2010’s Clash of the Titans ($61 million) — and not to have been out-performed by the smaller-budgeted Lucy. 

So will Johnson ever prove himself a true Hollywood leading man? Or is he destined to be eventually pushed out of the big-screen ring? Yahoo Movies investigates … 

Pro: He’s got charisma to burn … After a false start to his pro-wrestling career — fans never warmed to his initial incarnation as Rocky Maivia — Johnson quickly rebranded himself as the lovable WWE bad guy (or “heel,” in wrestling terms) called The Rock. Partly due to his physical prowess but mostly due to his radiant charisma, the hero with the raised eyebrow quickly became a much-loved superstar in the sport. And Hollywood paid attention: After he scored with audiences in a cameo in 2001’s The Mummy Returns, Universal paid him a whopping $5.5 million — a record payday for a first-time leading man — to star in 2002’s spinoff, The Scorpion King. Even in his worst movies, he was always likable and bright, and that helped him build a wider fanbase away from the WWE world. 

Con: … But that didn’t stop many of his early films from floppingThe Scorpion King did fairly well, taking more than $160 million worldwide, but none of his follow-ups really stuck. Action films The Rundown (2003), Walking Tall (2004), and Doom (2005) allowed him to show off his tough-guy chops, but were middlingly received by audiences. And his attempts to move into action-free fare didn’t pay off either: In 2006, he starred in the sports drama Gridiron Gang and the oddball indie Southland Tales: Both underperformed, and the latter was an infamous flop. Johnson — still retaining his ring name on posters — was attracting leading roles, but the crucial hit proved elusive. It might be because despite his background as a villain in wrestling, he’s always lacked real edge. Unlike many action stars, you don’t necessarily buy him projecting anger or menace. That’s fine for Journey 2; less so forWalking Tall. 

Pro: He has a sense of humor Johnson’s always had a welcome wit in the ring, and in 2000, he became the first wrestler to host Saturday Night Live since Hulk Hogan and Mr. T in 1985. With his early action movies failing to connect, Johnson took a cue from Vin Diesel, who’d had a hit with 2005’s The Pacifier and smartly capitalized on his innate comic timing, taking the lead in family comedy The Game Plan (2007). The film — the last in which Johnson would call himself “The Rock” — was a hit for both the actor and Disney, grossing $147 million worldwide. He stayed visible with roles in other successful comedies like 2008’s Get Smart and 2010’s The Other Guysand Tooth Fairy. Despite his success, it was becoming clear that Johnson wanted more from his career: He switched agencies afterTooth Fairy, telling The Hollywood Reporter recently that “I felt there were bigger and better opportunities.” Still, his willingness to diversify helped him maintain his leading-man cred, though it speaks to his wholesome, multigenerational appeal that he made his big-screen name not with actioners, but with family movies — perhaps another reason that audiences don’t flock to his more adult fare.  

Con:  His solo action-flicks tend to tankOver the past few years, Johnson course-corrected back to focusing on action movies, but he’s had a hard time top-lining a project. 2010’sFaster made only $20 million in the U.S., and last year’s Snitch and Pain & Gain each did only about double that (Another 2013 release, Empire State, in which he co-starred with Liam Hemsworth, didn’t even get a theatrical release.) These setbacks may not necessarily be a referendum on the star as much as the genre. With the exception of Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables movies, these sort of ’80s throwback actioners have been struggling to find audiences. It helps that he’s a good 20 years younger than his genre forebearers, but for now, audiences seemed to have lost their taste for these movies either way. 

With Channing Tatum in 2013’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation

Pro: His franchise flicks are huge …Johnson seems to be aware of the fact that he’s better when playing on a team — thanks, presumably, to the immense success he’s had in movie franchises. Three times now, with Fast Five (2011) Journey 2 (2012), and G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013), the star has joined pre-existing series and seen grosses soar with his presence. G.I. Joe director Jon M. Chucalled Johnson “franchise Viagra,” and the evidence is certainly there to back that up. Most significantly, the movies have helped Johnson develop an overseas fanbase: Even the most successful of his early films weren’t big performers in the increasingly important foreign markets, but the franchise pictures were huge abroad, aided by Johnson’s dedication to promoting them (New Line President Toby Emmerich told The Hollywood Reporter, “… he’s building an international audience with good movies and boots on the ground. That’s the recipe for a global movie star.”). No surprise, then, that he’s made two more Fast & Furiouspictures and is said to be attached to future Journey and G.I. Joe movies, too. 

Con: … But he still needs a series to call his ownBut the downside of being box-office Viagra is that there’s little sense of ownership for the success of the movies. The Fast & Furious franchise was already on the upswing, with Johnson just one piece of a larger ensemble, and while G.I. Joe was bigger than its series predecessor, it was only by a slim margin. And the fanbases for those films don’t seem to have crossed over to Hercules, given the disappointing opening weekend numbers. Johnson needs a franchise he can call his own, and neither Hercules — nor next summer’s disaster movie San Andreas, which would seem to be more of a one-off — look likely to provide it. 

Pro: He’s making plans … Even with the minor disappointment of Hercules, Johnson’s a smart cookie, and has always been in this for the long haul. As such, he’s got various projects in the works, any of which could finally be the clincher on his path to mega-stardom. There’s been some talk of a Fast & Furiousspinoff focused on his super-cop character, which would give him ownership of a new franchise away from Vin Diesel and Co. He’s long been hinting at a potential DC Comics superhero movie, rumored to be a version of Shazam!, which also has the potential to be a big hit. But he’s still willing to mix it up: He’s starring in and producing HBO comedyBallers — a sort of sports equivalent to Entourage — and he’s developing an All Is Lost-style survival drama called Not Without Hope. Despite the setbacks, we can smell what The Rock is cooking, and it smells very promising indeed.

Photos: Hercules, Kerry Brown/AP Photos/Paramount Pictures