Dwayne Johnson’s Big Week — ‘Furious 7’ Breaks Records As The Rock Becomes A Demigod

It’s official, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is having the best week ever.

It began with an appearance at Wrestlemania 31 last Sunday. Answering a challenge from The Authority, Johnson and Ronda Rousey climbed into the squared circle to give Triple H and Stephanie McMahon some much-needed justice to the delight of the WWE fans in attendance.

Then came the news of Johnson’s involvement in the upcoming Walt Disney Animation Studios film Moana. Johnson will play the male lead in Moana.

Manly & slightly off key.. RT: @billboard: @TheRock sings in Disney’s next animated musical: http://t.co/XAU6xOplmq pic.twitter.com/rLuf9taacf

— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) April 2, 2015

While the exact name of Johnson’s character hasn’t been released, the synopsis suggests he will lend his voice to the demigod Maui. According to Screenrant, Moana tells the story of the titular character as she joins forces with her hero, Maui, on a voyage across the ocean. Perhaps the biggest news came early Sunday morning, with the massive success of Johnson’s latest release, Furious 7.

Deadline reports that the latest entry into the Johnson’s Fast and the Furious franchise is breaking all kinds of records in its opening weekend. At a time when many long running series are struggling to woo domestic audiences, Furious 7 single-handedly boosted the year-to-year box office take by 33 percent. Furious 7 also shattered the box office record for an Easter weekend opening, besting the previous title holder, 2010’s Clash of the Titans, by more than $82 million and knocking Johnson’s most recent Easter release, 2013’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation, to third place.

In fact, Furious 7 now holds the record for the ninth highest-opening weekend of all time, beating out all of the Twilight Saga movies and ranking among such blockbuster franchise as the Dark Knight trilogy and the Harry Potter series. Though the upcoming release of the next installment of the Marvel Studio’s powerhouse Avengers series may knock Furious 7 down to 10th place.

Furious 7 is poised to overtake the domestic grosses of the first film of the franchise, The Fast and the Furious, early next week. Perhaps more excitingly, if there isn’t a huge second week drop off, Furious 7 will overtake Cinderella and Fifty Shades of Grey for the highest-grossing film of the year to date. Again, a record it will presumably only hold until the release of Marvel’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Despite his massive success, Dwayne Johnson has remained refreshingly humble. Early this morning, Johnson posted a photograph and story to his Instagram feed. It seems that a fan chased down Johnson as he was leaving the gym and tearfully explained that Johnson had given him the inspiration to beat cancer. Johnson gave the fan a hug and snapped pictures with him.

Cool story to share on Easter.. After my workout I’m drivin’ in my pick up and notice these kids in the rearview mirror screamin’ & runnin’ after my truck. Thought to myself, “Should I stop or keep drivin’?” I stopped. I hop out of my truck and this kid runs up to me, hugs the hell outta me and says it’s been his life’s dream to meet me and tell me how much I’ve inspired him to fight cancer (Hodgkin’s lymphoma) and hard core chemo and stem cell transplant treatments. He was a little teary eyed and said for months and months all he’s wanted to do was find me and say this face to face. I told him what it meant to me to hear this story. I thanked him, hugged him (and his friends), got back in my truck and drove away. As I’m drivin’ I start shaking my head (and tearing up) at how fragile life is and how amazing and cool the universe was to make this meeting happen between myself and this special kid Nick Miller. Let’s always take a moment to count our blessings.. cause there’s always something to be grateful for. Happy Easter y’all – DJ

A photo posted by therock (@therock) on Apr 5, 2015 at 9:17am PDT