re: the rock- has anyone ever been this popular/famous with such a crappy resume

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When you add in movies like Rundown, Snitch, Walking Tall, Gridiron Gang, and Scorpion King, it isn't hard to see why people have confidence when they spend their money on his movies at the box office that they will be entertained.

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It's pretty remarkable that he rose to the top of Hollywood based off that resume.

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ReplyOptionsTop 40 Posted by Tiger Voodoo on 5/27/17 at 12:39 am to 632627 You forgot Snitch, which is up there with The Rundown, and Gridiron Gang, which is another solid movie along the lines of Walking Tall. As for his appeal, you have to remember he was already a megastar before he even started making films. I don't watch wrestling, but even I knew who he was when he was a WWE star. He had many millions of fans before he ever hit a theater, and all of those fans sought out his movies once he started making them. As for not having a signature character like Sly or Arnold, The Rock is that character. It's why every movie he's in has such a high floor at the box office, because all of those fans for almost 20 years will give anything he does a chance. Then, he started off strong, turning The Scorpion King into a solid action hit, and surprising everyone in The Rundown making that a cult hit and oozing charisma in a fun buddy action comedy. He followed those up with Walking Tall and Gridiron Gang showing that he could pull off more dramatic roles as well, and stole the show in a supporting comedic role in Be Cool, showing more range in his first few years than most 80s action stars did in their entire careers. He then expanded his exposure and appeal to a whole new generation with family flicks like The Gameplan and The Tooth Fairy, knowing his fans from the WWE had kids and could build a bridge to that future generation of moviegoers. While I never saw either, both were hits and made him a known name to kids that would be teenagers for his next wave of projects over the next decade. And he really showed his box office drawing power, especially internationally, when he took the FF franchise to heights it never imagined with Fast 5. You can say it was already a popular franchise, but F5 is without question one of the top 2 installments, and completely changed the expectation for what these movies were. His drawing power helped to double the previous box office record of the franchise and turned it into the over the top must see spectacle of a franchise it has become today that continues growing in popularity and scale. And while the FF franchise and movies like San Andreas and GI Joe, another franchise that found great box office success with his name attached, show he is a modern day action hero, he still moves effortlessly into darker roles like Pain and Gain, and comedy fare like Central Intelligence, scene stealing parts like The Good Guys, and is steady enough to carry a series like Ballers. On top of all of that, like many have said, he just seems to be a genuinely good dude that people root for and enjoy seeing on screen. And that likability and charisma helped him become an animated voice star as well, with a supporting star turn in the monster hit Moana that was up there with the greats like Robin Williams in Aladdin, Nathan Lane in Lion King, Eddie Murphy in Shrek, etc. Smart choices like that, along with the upcoming Jumanji reboot, will only connect him to yet another generation that will be buying tickets over the next couple of decades keeping him at the forefront of the box office for years to come. So while he may not have a classic like Rambo/Teeminator/Die Hard on his resume, I think saying that "every movie he's in is garbage" is pretty untrue, and Fast 5 isn't far off from an action classic. When you add in movies like Rundown, Snitch, Walking Tall, Gridiron Gang, and Scorpion King, it isn't hard to see why people have confidence when they spend their money on his movies at the box office that they will be entertained. This post was edited on 5/27 at 1:07 am

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About a paragraph into that I started hearing it in Patrick Bateman's voice.

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Big Rock fan I see....Damn...

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Guilty. Although in my defense, Mrs Voodoo and I happened to catch Central Intelligence last night and she was checking his wiki page during the show so all of this was fresh in my mind.

Combine this with a sick kid and me being up later than I've been in several years, with my natural tendency to over analyze shite, and you end up with a post like that

That said, The Rock is the shite!!! San Andreas was one of the last handful of movies I've seen in the theater and loved it

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Honestly I thought he was funny as hell in Pain & Gain, might be the only person that laughs throughout that whole movie

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I thought the movie was hilarious

It's very simple: there is no movie or tv show that was ever not improved by The Rock. He makes good movies great and bad movies watchable. I honestly do not believe he has been in a great movie yet, and by great, I mean a really fantastic script that would have been a fantastic movie without him. Just imagine him in something already good...

The crazy thing, when looking at his filmography, is that it's like he can't say no to a role. He's been in like 40 movies and most are complete trash. Tooth fairy, witch mountain? Wtf.

You really can't compare him to Arnold at all. Arnold absolutely has some clunkers, but you could probably make the argument that kindergarten cop is better than any movie rock starred in (not counting supporting F&F role). Factor in true lies, predator and the terminator series and Arnold's resume destroys the rock's.

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secretly gay

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So he was playing himself

Central Intelligence, Rundown, and my favorite Journey 2 are just fun to watch.

he has a unique audience demographic that many other actors don't have. He has appeal across wide swaths of ethnic groups, old/young, men/women, foreign/domestic.

Combine that with his ability to do adult themed shows and silly stuff for kids, it'd be hard for him to miss. He's like Will Smith before he turned away from fun movies and comedies.

I really enjoyed Pain and Gain.

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....how the hell is he the biggest movie star in the world? ...every movie he's in is garbage...

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How could that possibly be surprising? Seriously, you answered your own question.

Why is Adam Sandler a bigger star and worth more money than:

Al Pacino
Matt Damon
Leonardo DiCaprio
Christian Bale
Robert De Niro
Robert Downey Jr.
Brad Pitt
etc., etc., etc....

In fact Sandler is not only wealthier / worth more than just about any two combined of Hollywood's best from the list above, his net worth is greater than any five actors combined from the majority of all Academy Award / Oscar winners. Why??? Like you say, he also makes garbage... and that is what sells BIG!! Unfortunately, skill, talent, great acting, great scripts, great movies, never have and never will have anything to do with what is most "popular".