Triumph for Mel Gibson as ‘Flight Risk’ is No. 1 at box office

NEW YORK (AP):

Critics lambasted it and audiences didn’t grade it much better. But despite the turbulence, Mel Gibson’s Flight Risk managed to open No. 1 at the box office with $12 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

On a quiet weekend, even for the typically frigid movie-going month of January, the top spot went to the Lionsgate thriller, which scored 21 per cent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and ‘C’ CinemaScore for audience reviews. Flight Risk stars Mark Wahlberg as a pilot flying an Air Marshal (Michelle Dockery) and fugitive (Topher Grace) across Alaska.

President Donald Trump recently named Gibson a “special ambassador” to Hollywood, along with Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone.

Going into the weekend, Hollywood’s attention was more focused on the Sundance Film Festival and on Thursday’s Oscar nominations, which were twice postponed by the wildfires in the Los Angeles region.

The weekend was also a small test as to whether the once more common Oscar “bump” that can sometimes follow nominations still exists. Most contenders have by now completed the bulk of their theatrical runs and are more likely to see an uptick on VOD or streaming.

Coming off one of the lowest Martin Luther King Jr. weekends in years, no new releases made a major impact.

Steven Soderbergh’s Presence, a well-reviewed horror film shot from the perspective of a ghost inside a suburban home, debuted with $3.4 million in 1,750 locations. The film, released by Neon and acquired out of last year’s Sundance, was made for just $2 million.

The top spots otherwise went to holdovers. The Walt Disney Co.’s Mufasa: The Lion King, in its sixth weekend of release, scored $8.7 million to hold second place. After starting slow, the Barry Jenkins-directed film has amassed $626.7 million globally.

One of Them Days, the Keke Palmer and SZA led comedy from Sony Pictures, held well in its second weekend, dropping just 32 per cent with $8 million in ticket sales. In recent years, few comedies have found success on the big screen, but One of Them Days has proven an exception.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theatres, according to Comscore.