Lionsgate‘s release of Mel Gibson’s Flight Risk starring Mark Wahlberg made in $950K in previews last night. The last time Gibson directed was nine years for the 2x Oscar winning WWII movie Hacksaw Ridge also from Lionsgate. It’s not clear yet if Flight Risk will win the weekend, tracking saying $9M-$11M, but if it does, it will rep 2x this month for Lionsgate, a feat they haven’t hard since November 2023’s The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
Flight Risk is booked at 3,100 theaters, of which 660 are Premium Large Format screens and 273 Motion seat screens (4DX, DBOX, MX4D). Reviews for Flight Risk are 25% on Rotten Tomatoes. Den of Thieves 2: Pantera stood at 60% with critics on RT, and that landed Lionsgate a No. 1 win with $15M.
Tracking service Quorum spots some of the gas leaking on Flight Risk: Unaided awareness has stalled at 4%, which is never a good sign in a pic’s final week, with interest slipping from 55% to 51%. Flight Risk was 3 stars with Screen Engine/Comscore PostTrak audiences last night at 72% positive. Men at 58% and an overall audience at 80% over 25 showed up.
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Headwinds that Flight Risk is flying into this weekend include two NFL Conference Championship games. If Flight Risk nosedives, it’s at the paws of Disney’s Mufasa which is heading into its 6th weekend with an eye at $8M-$9M. Mufasa won its fifth week with $18M and a running cume $212.3M. The added bonus for Mufasa: It’s not on PVOD, and it’s purely theatrical. Exhibitors are rewarding Disney with those window terms this weekend with solid screen holds.
NEON‘s drone shot ghost thriller Presence from Steven Soderbergh, which they took the world on a year ago after the pic’s Sundance premiere is eyeing a $2M-$3M opening at 1,750 theaters. Previews were $385K. In its pure Thursday night previews alone, as a comp, MUBI’s The Substance back in September did $327K before opening to $3.2M. It’s 89% certified fresh with critics, and two stars with last night’s PostTrak audience, who were 61% men, 73% over the age of 25. NEON beat out ten other bidders at the festival a year ago. The deal at that time came 35 years after Soderbergh’s $1 million Sundance deal for his career splash sex, lies, & videotape and subsequent Palme d’Or win at Cannes. In Presence, a family moves into a suburban house and becomes convinced they are not alone. A supernatural force has infiltrated the house, and taken a specific interest in the couple’s daughter. Lucy Liu stars with Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang, Julia Fox, Eddy Maday and West Mulholland.
Angel Studios has the Damian Harris directed, Jared Harris starring Brave the Dark which also looks to do in the single digits at 2,200 sites. PostTrak exits are 4 1/2 stars with a 62% definite recommend for the 51% female leaning, 63% over 45 turnout. Mad Men‘s Jared Harris plays Mr. Deen who discovers one of his students has been living out of his car and thrown into jail. Mr. Deen decides to bail him out. Determined to curb Nate’s self-destructive behavior, Mr. Deen quickly discovers a host of dark secrets that are slowly tearing Nate apart. What started as a good deed becomes a desperate fight to save Nate from his own demons.
Second for the week was Sony’s R-rated Keke Palmer and SZE comedy One of Them Days with $17M after a $938K Thursday, -6% from Wednesday. The movie could ease some -40% in its second weekend. Third for the week was Universal/Blumhouse’s Wolf Man which did not delight with $14.4M in week one at 3,354 sites. Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 3 was fourth with $12.7M and a running total of $220.5M. The pic is currently on digital PVOD. Fifth for the week is Den of Thieves 2 with $9.2M at 3,008 sites and a running total of $28.8M.
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