The Rock's "Skyscraper" Jump

About

The Rock's Skyscraper Jump refers to a series of jokes and memes about the poster for Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's 2018 action film Skyscraper. The poster, which features Johnson in mid-jump from a platform to the broken window of a burning building, has been analyzed for scientific accuracy and resemblance to other action films.

Origin

On February 2nd, 2018, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson tweeted ^[1] the promotion poster for his 2018 action film Skyscraper. He captioned the poster "We’re all willing to sacrifice it all when it comes to protecting our families. / Here’s the first look at our original concept film, #SKYSCRAPER. / THIS SUNDAY during the #SuperBowl you’ll see how far one man will go to protect his wife and children. / #SKYSCRAPER SUMMER 2018." The post (shown below) received more than 1,700 retweets and 9,800 likes in five days.

Spread

That, day, people on Twitter began discussing the actual science behind the poster. Twitter^[2] user @jpsmythe tweeted the poster with lines that indicate where the Rock would land if he attempted the jump. They added the caption "I’ve mocked up some parabolas for The Rock’s SKYSCRAPER jump. Red is assuming he jumped up a bit first; green assuming he ran forward and somehow didn’t lose momentum; yellow for a sort of squat-thrust thing. Whichever you choose, rest in peace The Rock, as you are dead now." The post (shown below, left) received more than 15,000 retweets and 40,000 likes in five days.

Following this tweet, other people began photoshopping solutions to help make the jump possible (example below, center).

On February 3rd, Twitter^[5] user @_McMike_ began posting the Rock's image from the poster photoshopped into different scenarios using the hashtag "#DwayneJumpsStuff." That day, he posted an image of The Rock with skis on jumping water with the caption "….And Happy Days #DwayneJumpsStuff." The post (shown below, right) references the infamous Jump the Shark episode of the television series Happy Days. It received more than 30 retweets and 690 likes in four days.

On February 5th, Twitter user @JawsThatBite posted a gif of the poster in motion. The post (shown below) received more than 375 retweets and 1,700 likes in two days.

Following the release of the Super Bowl trailer^[6] for the film, many online began to discuss the similarities between Skyscraper and the 1988 action film Die Hard, which is also set on a besieged high-rise building (examples below).

Twitter published two Moments^[3][4] pages regarding the reaction to the poster and trailer.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References