Марк Волберг у «Небезпечному рейсі» / Lionsgate
Movie theaters in January are so deserted that Mel Gibson’s Flight Risk took the top spot at the box office this weekend, despite the film being panned by critics.
The opening weekend failed to cover the modest $25 million budget of Flight Risk, and the future of the film doesn’t look too bright. January is not the best month for cinema, so the film became number one in domestic release with $12 million, and this may be its only success. However, it should be noted that it “scraped” these in 3161 theaters. The world gave another $4.2 million.
For comparison, in second place in the US box office is Disney’s Mufasa, which premiered a month and a half ago. This weekend, the “The Lion King” prequel added $8.7 million in domestic release, its total global earnings now amount to $626.7 million.
This is the second consecutive Lionsgate release after The Thieves 2 which debuted in first place at the box office in January. The studio, which is in a terrible financial state after last year, is desperately trying to offer something to audiences during a period when other studios are not.
Perhaps Flight Risk would have had a better chance of breaking even, had it not received a devastating review score. Currently, it’s at 25% on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences gave the film 64% — also not too much. On Cinema Score, the film has a grade of C, on Metacritic — 38 points.
“Director Mel Gibson tries to reinterpret the action movies of the ’90s. However, the weird screenplay, cheap CGI effects, and bloated roles have put this film on autopilot,” — Joe Friar, Fort Worth Report.
“Flight Risk” is the kind of film that would have gone straight to video if not for the names on and off the screen,” — Jack Martin, Film Feeder.
“Like a typical 90-minute flight, I just sat and waited for it to end. And unlike a real flight, I wanted the plane to crash to make everything interesting,” — Joseph Tomastik, Loud and Clear Reviews.
“Undoubtedly, ‘Flight Risk’ is a sharp drop in quality for Mel Gibson and, without a doubt, his worst directorial work, but it’s almost worth watching alone for the fact that, damn it, Mark Wahlberg produces,” — Robert Koyder, Flickering Myth.
Mel Gibson’s aerial thriller starring Mark Wahlberg started in the US on January 24. Ukrainian viewers will see Flight Risk only on March 15.
Sources: Variety, Rotten Tomatoes