UPDATE: 2025-08-06 07:30 EST BY BRENNAN KLEIN

Flight Risk Holds Strong With $12 Million Debut

This article was originally written Saturday AM and has been updated Sunday AM with up-to-date box office projections (in bold), a full chart, and further analysis.

Flight Riskhas dominated the box office in its opening weekend. The new movie, which was directed by Mel Gibson, stars Mark Wahlberg as a mob hitman posing as a pilot who menaces Deputy U.S. Marshal Madelyn Harris (Michelle Dockery) and informant Winston (Topher Grace) while they are trapped in midair in a small plane. TheFlight Riskreleasemarks the latest debut from studio and distributor Lionsgate, who put out a string of notable box office flops in 2024 includingBorderlands,The Crow,Megalopolis, andWhite Bird.

PerTheWrap, as of Sunday morning,Flight Riskis projected to earn a 3-day total of$12 millionat the domestic box office by the end of its opening weekend. This will beenough for it to topple the 2024 holdover hitMufasa: The Lion Kingfrom the No. 1 spotfor the weekend. It is the second 2025 new release to top the domestic chart so far, afterDen of Thieves 2: Pantera, which was also a Lionsgate title. This has been the case in spite of dismal reviews earning it a 21% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Meanwhile, another new release, the Stephen Soderbergh haunted house moviePresence, wasneck and neck for the No. 5 slot throughout the weekendwith the holdover 2024 Disney hitMoana 2, but the animated movie (which recently passed the $1 billion milestone) won out over the horror title’s $3.4 million debut. The third new release, the Jared Harris-led Angel Studios dramaBrave the Dark, entirely missed out on the Top 10 with a $2.2 million debut that came in far below their average of $5 million. See the full domestic Top 5 chart for the weekend below:

1

$12 million

$12 million (weekend 1)

2

$8.2 million

$220 million (weekend 6)

3

$7.75 million

$24.8 million (weekend 2)

4

Sonic the Hedgehog 3

$5.5 million

$226 million (weekend 6)

5

$4.1 million

$448 million (weekend 9)

The previous weekend’s new releases had entirely different fates. While the Keke Palmer comedyOne of Them Daysfloated gracefully down from No. 2 to No. 3 withan astonishingly slim week-on-week drop of just 34%, the Blumhousehorror movie rebootWolf Mancrashed with a 72% drop. Its $2 million haul sees it plummeting from No. 3 all the way to No. 7 during its sophomore weekend. This is Blumhouse’s worst drop since August 2024’sAfrAId(72.7%), which in turn was their worst since October 2023’sFive Nights at Freddy’s(76.2%).

Also off the chart isDen of Thieves 2: Pantera, which previously fell from No. 1 to No. 5 during its sophomore weekend. In its third, it is projected to gross a 3-day domestic total of roughly $3 million that sees it falling to No. 9. Its cumulative total of $31.8 million sees it still mostly keeping pace with the original 2018 crime movie, which had earned $36.1 million in North America by the end of its third weekend in theaters.

What This Means For Flight Risk

It Is Doing Well While The General Box Office Sinks

Flight Risk’s debut would seem to be a good sign for its overall theatrical run, as the production budget of theMark Wahlberg movieis reportedly just $10 million. While this means thatit will likely have to earn $25 million in theaters in order to break even, it is already well on its way toward hitting that total by the end of its time in theaters. However, while the thriller is thriving, the general box office is experiencing severe doldrums with a projected overall weekend total of just $64 million, which is the lowest of the year so far.

The previous lowest-grossing domestic box office weekend was the traditional 3-day weekend over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, which earned $77.6 million overall.

While the domestic box office struggles,Flight Riskdebuting at No. 1 is yet another win for Lionsgate afterDen of Thieves 2, showcasing the fact thattheir 2025 slate so far seems to be connecting with audiences much betterthan the year prior. This will likely be the case as the year continues, as they have quite a few movies with strong potential scheduled, including the IP-related offeringsFrom the World of John Wick: Ballerina,Saw XI, andNow You See Me 3, which will be followed in 2026 byThe Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.

Our Take On The Weekend Box Office

January Could Continue To Be Rough

What happened withFlight Riskwill likely continue to happen with various 2025 new releases moving forward, including the mysterious thrillerCompanionand the Valentine’s Day slasherHeart Eyes. However,these domestic box office doldrums may not fully lift until February 14with the debut of theupcomingCaptain America: Brave New World. The Marvel Cinematic Universe movie is projected to open above $90 million at the domestic box office, so that one movie will earn more than any of the complete movie slates have over the last three weekends.