Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson Calms Crowd After ‘Hobbs & Shaw’ Premiere Faces Fire Scare

The world premiere of Hobbs & Shaw was interrupted by a fire scare, but star Dwayne 'The Rock' [...]

By Michael Hein

The world premiere of Hobbs & Shaw was interrupted by a fire scare, but star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was able to help keep the crowd calm. Johnson co-stars in the new Fast and Furious spinoff movie, and he was in the audience at the premiere on Saturday night in Los Angeles. He was one of the first to react when electrical sparks flew into the crowd.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, a shower of sparks is what caused the fear of a theater fire at the blockbuster premiere. An electrical short caused sparks to come shooting up out of the floor, causing many to scramble and panic. However, Johnson reportedly kept is cool, and helped others do the same.

"Sparks started coming from the floor in the center of the orchestra. They've stopped the movie. Security was called to look at it as the audience members sitting in that section quickly moved from their seats," an attendee said of the incident. At the same time, there was "a series of loud pops followed by a flash of light... the size of a fist."

The ordeal delayed the screening for a total of about 15 minutes, and caused a number of guests to go running from the theater. However, Johnson stood unfazed, projecting a calm presence into the panicked theater.

"When things started to seemingly go sideways and everyone was exiting the theater, just for the record, I stood right there," he said on stage before the screening got back underway. "I stayed."

"Jason Statham ran his a– out of here," he added to general laughter.

It later turned out that the incident was caused by a spilled drink somewhere around rows H and J, which somehow seeped into an electrical socket on the floor.

The people closest to the sparks took off, and many others followed suit, assuming an emergency was underway. At that point, the house lights came up.

A few others reportedly kept their heads as well, including star Idris Elba and producer Chris Morgan. Once the confusion was sorted out, director David Leitch took the stage with Johnson.

"Alright guys, that was weird," he said. He added that it was "an accident" before promising that the screening would get back underway soon. The delay lasted about 15 minutes in total. Photos from the scene show a confused crowd standing on a floor littered with upended popcorn containers and drinks.

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw premieres everywhere on Friday, Aug. 2 2019.

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