It wasn’t too long ago, in an interview with Collider, that Dwayne Johnson’s producing partner, Hiram Garcia, spoke about their franchise-forward goals, saying:
“We’re very calculating in what we want to tell, but, look, if our studio partners had their way, they want a Journey 2: Mysterious Island sequel, they want a San Andreas sequel, they want a Rampage sequel. It’s like all of those movies, the studio was clamoring for a sequel.”
Garcia added that he and Johnson chose to focus on building other properties into franchises instead. In the same interview, Garcia also mentioned Baywatch as being one of the most difficult movies to reshape in post-production, as it didn’t test all that well initially. A reboot of the famous television series from the 1990s, the movie was developed as a potential franchise-starter, but it ultimately didn’t land. Baywatch is regarded as a low-point in Johnson’s post-stardom career. Now, audiences that never got an opportunity to check it out back in its initial run can watch it on a new streamer this month. Directed by Seth Gordon, the movie will be made available to stream on Prime Video starting November 9. Baywatch debuted to terrible reviews and lukewarm box office reception in 2017. The movie was a two-hander, with Johnson starring alongside Zac Efron. An ensemble cast rounded out the rest of the team, who join forces to protect their beach from an encroaching villain played by Priyanka Chopra Jonas. Alexandra Daddario, Ilfenesh Hadera, and Kelly Rohrbach play supporting roles, while original Baywatch stars Pamela Anderson and David Hasselhoff appear in cameos.
Dwayne Johnson’s Recent Career Pivot Also Didn’t Deliver

Produced on a reported budget of around $70 million, the action comedy grossed nearly $180 million worldwide. But considering the kind of business that Johnson’s movies during that era were doing, and considering what a hot property Baywatch was globally, this was seen as a disappointing result for everybody involved. What made matters worse were the poor reviews that the film opened to. It currently sits at an 18% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus reads, “Baywatch takes its source material’s jiggle factor to R-rated levels, but lacks the original’s campy charm — and leaves its charming stars flailing in the shallows.” Johnson has been struggling at the box office in recent years, with a string of underperformers such as Black Adam, Jungle Cruise, and most recently, The Smashing Machine. You can watch Baywatch on Prime Video starting November 9, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

Release Date

May 25, 2017

Runtime

116 minutes

Director

Seth Gordon

Writers

Damian Shannon, Mark Swift, Thomas Lennon, Robert Ben Garant, Jay Scherick, David Ronn

Producers

Beau Flynn, Douglas Schwartz, Gregory J. Bonann, Ivan Reitman, Michael Berk