Warning: This article contains spoilers for "The Smashing Machine."

Is the hierarchy of power in the 2026 Academy Awards about to change? Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson sure hopes so, if his dramatic about-face pivot in "The Smashing Machine" is anything to go by. The awards season hopeful, from writer/director Benny Safdie, represents the first step in Johnson's extremely calculated plan. Up until recently, he's been content to leverage his WWE star power for a steady string of blockbusters throughout the last several years. He helped reinvigorate the "Fast & Furious" franchise, served as the leading man on several genre movies in which he wore indistinguishable outfits of khaki and grey ( to the point of becoming fodder for memes ), and even flirted with staging a coup on DC and have "Bl

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