The Rock's Hercules movie doing pretty well at the box office

Its been a busy fortnight for The Rock, aka Dwayne Johnson, as he's been hitting the media circuit hard to promote his latest movie Hercules, which had its theatrical release yesterday. So did all his hard work pay off at the box office?

I'd say so. Although the film came second for the weekend behind Scarlett Johansson thriller Lucy, it's projected to be The Rock's biggest opening weekend for a movie where he's the lead star and it wasn't part of an already established franchise, as The Hollywood Reporter's figures suggested:

"Dwayne Johnson's Hercules, from director Brett Ratner, placed a distant No. 2 Friday with an estimated $11 million for a projected $28 million to $30 million weekend.

Paramount and MGM, which partnered on Hercules, have much more at stake financially since the movie cost at least $100 million to make. The film could be a big performer in select international markets, including Russia, where it has earned $5.2 million in its first two days. All told, Hercules took in $6.5 million Friday from 19 markets for an early foreign total of $11.5 million."

Moreover, the numbers are better than what most analysts predicted, who expected Hercules to be a box office flop, due to a combination of weak buzz (despite Rock's best efforts), dull marketing and the strange decision to keep the film hidden from critics (which is usually a sign that it sucked, but in this case was because the movie's advertising was deceptive about its plot).

In the end, Hercules got generally positive reviews with a 64% fresh rating from critics on RottenTomatoes.com. Audiences seem to like it even better with 69% of moviegoers giving it at least 3.5 out of 5. Basically, if you want to see The Rock kicking ass whilst wearing a loincloth in an ancient Greek mythical setting (and what wrestling fan wouldn't), then this is the movie for you!

Although this wasn't quite the smash hit that I'm sure The Rock hoped for, the movie should end up making a healthy profit in the end and proves that he's very bankable as an action movie star. Continued success at the movie box office also demonstrates that his ongoing relationship with WWE is a win-win situation, but may make it more difficult for him to make many more WWE appearances, as the demands on his time increase even further.