Dwayne Johnson’s wrestling drama Fighting With My Family has been pushed back from a release in fall 2018 to March 2019. Johnson’s 2018 slate just got a little smaller, but the megastar is certainly on a great run at the box office regardless of what happens from here. The former WWE star will portray himself in a supporting role in Fighting With My Family, which follows up video game adaptation Rampage and this summer’s action thriller Skyscraper.
Fighting With My Family, just the second feature film directed by actor Stephen Merchant (Logan) and based on the life and career of WWE star Saraya-Jade Bevis, aka. Paige, is reportedly already finished. There’s even a teaser already out for the film, which also stars Lena Headey (Game of Thrones) and Nick Frost (Tomb Raider) as her parents Patrick and Julia Bevis as well as Jack Lowden (Dunkirk) as her brother Zak Bevis - all famous pro wrestlers out of the U.K. But the film was originally expected out in September, and now it won’t hit theaters until nearly a year after that teaser dropped.
As reported by Variety on Friday, Fighting With My Family has been moved from a Sept. 14 release date to March 1, 2019. The Seven Bucks production joins Lionsgate’s Chaos Walking, Universal’s How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, and Fox’s The Kid Who Would Be King as movies expected out on that date.
Johnson also co-executive produced Fighting With My Family through Seven Bucks, which he co-founded with Danny Garcia. But the decision to move the release back came via distributor MGM, which has now moved the movie past the Nov. 23 release of Creed II. There are no specifically reported reasons for the change.
One possibility is that MGM simply didn’t feel good about its chances against the competition in September. Shane Black’s Predator reboot is due out on Sept. 14, as well as Paul Feig’s latest, the dark comedy/mystery A Simple Favor. It could also be a play for WWE Films to get the movie out closer to next year’s Wrestlemania event, which takes place on April 7 at MetLife Stadium. Neither September nor March are generally considered strong release periods, so it’s hard to gauge whether the move speaks at all to how confident MGM is in the quality of the movie itself.
At the end of the day, there is a wealth of talent involved in Fighting With My Family both in front of and behind the cameras. Paige remains with WWE in a non-wrestling role after being forced to retire due to persistent injury concerns with her neck, so there should still be plenty of relevant buzz surrounding it. But beyond the single teaser, it remains to be seen what Johnson’s production has put together here.
Next: Fighting With My Family May Be The Ultimate Pro Wrestling Movie
Source: Variety
