A Forgotten Dwayne Johnson Thriller Is Soaring Up Streaming Charts
Dwayne Johnson's Faster is climbing the streaming charts on Paramount.
These days, Dwayne Johnson is the face of several blockbuster franchises such as Red Notice and Jumanji. Before becoming one of the biggest movie stars on the planet, however, the wrestler-turned-actor appeared in a string of mid-budget genre flicks that many viewers seem to have forgotten about. One of those films, the George Tillman Jr.-directed Faster, is getting a new lease on life thanks to streaming.
According to Flix Patrol, a website that tracks all film and television titles climbing the charts on various streaming platforms worldwide, Faster jumped 14 points yesterday to number four on Paramount Plus’s top-ten movies. Currently, the number one title on the service is Top Gun: Maverick. Dwayne Johnson may have some serious star power, but the odds of his movie dethroning the Tom Cruise-led sequel are slim to none.
In Faster, Dwayne Johnson plays a loan man, fresh out of prison, who seeks out the people from his past who he believes betrayed him. At the same time, he is being tracked by an egocentric hitman and a veteran cop with secrets of his own. Billy Bob Thornton, Tom Berenger, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Carla Gugino, Courtney Gains, Maggie Grace, and Xander Berkeley also star in the film.
Production on the revenge thriller began in 2009, with Phil Joanou attached as director. Shortly after Dwayne Johnson signed on for the movie, Joanou dropped out of the project, and George Tillman Jr. was brought on as his replacement. Principal photography began in February 2010, and the film premiered in theaters on November 24.
Faster opened to mixed reviews from both critics and audiences alike. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 42 percent from professional critics. Meanwhile, it has a score of 52 percent from everyday viewers.
The movie had a disappointing box office run, earning a measly $35.6 million worldwide against a $24 million budget. Fortunately, because Faster was rather inexpensive to make, it isn’t considered a financial flop. Nevertheless, it’s one of the lowest-grossing movies featuring Dwayne Johnson in a starring role.
The good news is that in the years since Faster premiered in theaters, the 50-year-old actor has become a bonafide box office draw. His movies have made more than $5 billion combined, with many of his biggest hits from the Fast and the Furious and Jumanji franchises. With that said, some folks are convinced Dwayne Johnson is losing his box office power.
Although Black Adam earned nearly $400 million globally, the superhero flick had an initial budget of $190 million that ballooned to approximately $260 million due to larger-than-expected reshoots.
Dwayne Johnson stated on several occasions that the movie was intended to be the starting point for a new DC era, but following its disappointing box office performance, the planned sequels and spin-offs were completely scrapped. Now, with James Gunn and Peter Safran overseeing DC’s upcoming slate of titles, the actor’s time as the anti-hero looks to be over.
Luckily, Dwayne Johnson has plenty of other projects lined up to keep him occupied over the next several years. He’s currently hard at work developing sequels to San Andreas, Jungle Cruise and Red Notice. Additionally, he’s set to appear in this year’s holiday action flick Red One, alongside Chris Evans and Lucy Liu.
