Dwayne Johnson Hot Top News

'Empire State' w/Dwayne Johnson Coming To Blu-Ray DVD 9/3

I’m sure you’re saying to yourself, like I did: “Wait, when did that Dwayne Johnson movie come out?”

The answer is that, it didn’t. In fact, I had to search, and found out that Tambay first wrote about this film back in January 2012, and Vanessa followed up in July announcing that the film was scheduled to be released in June 2013.

Well it’s June 2013 and…nothing!

No, wait, that’s not exactly true. Lionsgate Home Video has now announced that the heist thriller, Empire State, starring Johnson, Liam Hemsworth (Is he the one who plays Thor or is that his brother”) and Emma (AKA Julia’s niece) Roberts, is coming out on blu-ray DVD on August 3rd.

The film also stars Roger Guenveur Smith as “Agent Marichal,” and is based “around the real-life robbery of the Sentry Armored Car Company in 1982; an $11.4 million haul that, at the time, was the biggest cash robbery in U.S. history."

But still, one has to ask, what happened? Why wasn’t the film released theatrically, especially with Johnson starring?

Yeah sure, of course, it must be bad (I couldn’t even find a single trailer for it), but that hasn’t stopped a film from being released before.

It happens every week.

The Rock in Empire State

DWAYNE JOHNSON: ‘SEVEN REASONS WHY’ “G.I. JOE RETALIATION” IS THE GREATEST

It’s been over a decade since we’ve watched Dwayne Johnson step out of the wrestling ring and onto a movie set for The Mummy Returns (2001), sparking his own spin-off, The Scorpion King (2002), and launching a film career that has generated a hefty return in box office sales.

But put aside the Fast & Furious franchise, family pics like Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, and his dramatic turn in this year’s Snitch, because Johnson is fulfilling a childhood fantasy by becoming a ‘Joe’ in G.I. Joe: Retaliation.

“As a kid, I loved playing with the G.I. Joe action figures,” Johnson admits. ”When I got involved with the project I began to understand the mythology and was impressed by how layered it is and how deep it goes.”

“Dwayne is essentially a G.I. Joe and that’s something you can’t act or script out,” adds director Jon Chu. ”It’s just in his DNA. When you think of anyone who is almost a living action figure, Dwayne comes to mind.”

Johnson’s co-star Channing Tatum agrees. “Dwayne is an actual action figure,” he says. “Every time I look at him on set I think ‘That’s The Rock!’ His arm is literally as big as my waist.”

And size certainly matters when it comes to taking on Roadblock in Retaliation. Known for being the heavy machine gunner in the group, Chu brought that part of the character’s mythology to life, just one reason Johnson thinks this movie is the “greatest G.I. Joe movie” ever made. Not to mention becoming an actual action figure, and starring alongside Bruce Willis.

Check out Johnson’s entire ‘Seven Reasons Why’ this film is the “greatest.”