A likely 2025 Venice Film Festival entry, Benny Safdie‘s The Smashing Machine won’t open for another six and one-third months — 10.5.25.

Dwayne Johnson has been a movie star for roughly 15 years, and with that status has been able to pick and choose his projects. With the slight exception of Pain and Gain (’13), Johnson has starred in almost nothing but glossy escapist popcorn junk. Now, for an odd reason that only Johnson understands, he’s begun making movies that aspire to quality. Safdie’s flick is first out of the gate, and then comes Martin Scorsese‘s Hawaiian crime boss drama, with Leonardo DiCaprio and Emily Blunt costarring.

Johnson’s black-hair wig (James Mason in Julius Caesar) looks funny. There’s something simian about it.