This week, The Marine turns 20. The WWE-produced action film was John Cena’s first starring movie role, and two decades on it is still a fascinating what-if of casting, a lesson in home video economics, and the launchpad for a surprisingly long franchise. Here are eight things you didn’t know about the 2006 action film.
It made more on DVD than in US cinemas
The Marine grossed $18.8 million domestically after ten weeks in theaters. Its DVD release on January 30, 2007 featured both the “rated” and “unrated” versions and went on to gross $27.3 million in domestic video sales. Home video quietly became the film’s bigger earner.
The original cast list was very different
The Marine was originally written with Al Pacino in mind for the part of criminal Rome, with Stone Cold Steve Austin as hero Triton. After Austin and WWE parted ways in 2004, Randy Orton was set to be the main character. Orton turned down the role and was replaced by John Cena.
Randy Orton’s Marine discharge shaped the film
Orton turned down the role because of his bad conduct discharge from the Marines in the late 1990s. With that history, playing a heroic Marine was not something he would do. The studio then looked elsewhere, and John Cena stepped into the part.
Pacino passed, so Robert Patrick became Rome
Pacino turned down the role of Rome due to the low salary offered. After Pacino turned it down, Ray Liotta was considered for the role of Rome. In the end, Robert Patrick got the part instead.
It was shot before Cena’s famous WWE absence
Principal photography for the film was actually shot and completed in 2004. To cover for John Cena’s absence from WWE events, a storyline was written after Carlito beat Cena for the WWE United States Championship, saying that he was stabbed by Carlito’s bodyguard, Jesús, and was taking time off to recover.
Australia doubled for the United States
Filming was done at Movie World Studios in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The Marine Base was filmed at Bond University. The skyscrapers shown are the downtown area of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Critics and audiences disagreed
On Rotten Tomatoes, 17% of 46 critics’ reviews are positive, with an average rating of 3.9/10. Metacritic assigned the film a score of 45 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating “mixed or average” reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “B+” on an A+ to F scale.
It launched a five-film franchise
The film has spawned five direct-to-video sequels, starting with The Marine 2, featuring Ted DiBiase Jr. in the main role, released on December 29, 2009. The last four sequels have starred professional wrestler Mike “The Miz” Mizanin in the role of Jake Carter.
Which of these The Marine facts is your favourite? Tell us the one you’d save for a movie-night argument.
Facts from Wikipedia: The Marine, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Film images from TMDB. This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.
