Box Office: Mel Gibson and Mark Wahlberg’s ‘Flight Risk’ Flies to No. 1 With $12 Million in Yet Another Glacial Weekend
"Flight Risk," an action thriller starring Mark Wahlberg and directed by Mel Gibson, was No. 1 in a glacially slow weekend at the box office.
“Flight Risk,” an action thriller directed by Mel Gibson and starring Mark Wahlberg as a balding, unhinged pilot, landed in first place with $12 million from 3,161 North American theaters in its opening weekend.
It’s the second consecutive Lionsgate release, following “Den of Thieves 2: Pantera,” to debut at No. 1 as the studio takes advantage of January’s otherwise desolate box office landscape. Case in point: Second place went to Disney’s “”Mufasa” which opened six weeks ago. The “Lion King” prequel added an additional $8.7 million from 3,420 cinemas, bringing its tally to $221 million in North America and $626.7 million globally.
“Flight Risk” cost $25 million, so it’ll need to keep flying during its theatrical run. That could be challenging because critics and audiences lambasted the film, which holds a dismal 21% average on Rotten Tomatoes and lousy “C” grade on CinemaScore. This marks the first directorial effort from Gibson, whose career was derailed by several off-screen controversies, since 2016’s Oscar-nominated “Hacksaw Ridge.” Wahlberg and Gibson recently collaborated on 2022’s “Father Stu,” a faith-based drama directed and self-funded by the “Ted” star.
“Moviegoers are showing up, but they’re not impressed with the movie,” says David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research.
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Another newcomer, Steven Soderbergh’s ghost thriller “Presence,” stumbled in sixth place with $3.4 million from 1,750 cinemas. The low-budget film, which Neon bought at last year’s Sundance, was better liked by critics (87% on Rotten Tomatoes) than audiences (“C+” grade on CinemaScore). Lucy Liu and Chris Sullivan star in “Presence,” told from the perspective of the supernatural entity that’s haunting their new home.
Sony’s R-rated buddy comedy “One of Them Days” slid to third place with $7.75 million from 2,675 locations, marking a scant 34% decline from its opening. The film, starring Keke Palmer and SZA, is benefitting from positive word-of-mouth and has generated $24.8 million after two weekends of release.
Meanwhile, Universal and Blumhouse’s horror thriller “Wolf Man,” which also opened last weekend, tumbled to No. 7 with $2 million from 3,354 cinemas. Ticket sales cratered by 72% from the film’s already soft start, bringing its domestic total to $17.4 million. “Wolf Man” isn’t making up ground overseas, where the $25 million-budgeted movie added $3.5 million from 75 markets for a global tally of $27 million.
Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 3″ remained fourth with $5.5 million in its sixth outing. The kid-friendly threequel has grossed $226 million in North America and $425 million globally, making it the highest-grossing entry in of the series, above 2020’s “Sonic” ($319 million) and the 2022 sequel “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” ($405 million).
Disney’s “Moana 2” rounded out the top five with $4.1 million, boosting its tally to $448 million after nine weeks on the big screen. The animated sequel, which originally developed as a Disney+ series, has surpassed $1 billion globally.
More to come…