Critics lambasted it and audiences didn't grade it much better. or signup to continue reading But despite the turbulence, Mel Gibson's Flight Risk managed to open No.1 at the North American box office with a modest $US12 million ($A19 million), according to studio estimates.
On a quiet weekend in the US and Canada, even for the typically frigid movie-going month of January, the top spot went to the Lionsgate thriller starring Mark Wahlberg as a pilot flying an Air Marshall (Michelle Dockery) and fugitive (Topher Grace) across Alaska. But it wasn't a particularly triumphant result for Gibson's directorial follow-up to 2016's Hacksaw Ridge. Reviews (21 per cent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and audience scores (a "C" CinemaScore) were terrible.
US President Donald Trump recently named Gibson a "special ambassador" to Hollywood, along with Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone. The weekend's most daring gambit was independent entertainment company A24 pushing Brady Corbet's The Brutalist, a three-and-a-half-hour epic featuring Australia's Guy Pearce that has been nominated for 10 Academy Awards, into wide release. Though some executives initially greeted The Brutalist, which is running with an intermission, as "un-distributable", A24 acquired the film out of the Venice Film Festival and it's managed solid business.
It has collected $US6 million ($A9.5 million) in limited release. In wide release, it earned $US2.
9 million ($A4.6 million) - a far cry from blockbuster sum but the best week.
