Mark Wahlberg’s New Villain Movie Will Break His Grim Box Office Streak Thanks To 29-Year-Old Trend

Since 2020, Mark Wahlberg has collected a long series of movie flops, but his newest role as the villain in Flight Risk may finally break this trend due to one particularly successful coworker. According to Rotten Tomatoes, Mark Wahlberg has had eight straight Rotten movies from 2020 to 2023. He had a similar streak during 2014 and 2015, and another in 2007 and 2008. However, these critical flops do not mean that Wahlberg’s career is doomed. In the midst of his failures, the actor has had some serious gems, and hopefully, this future film will be one of those.

One of Mark Wahlberg’s movies on the horizon is a film called Flight Risk. Filmed amid the SAG-AFTRA strike of 2023, the film has no release date yet, but boasts an impressive cast and crew. Flight Risk stars Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Dockery, and Topher Grace. It is also being directed by iconic director and actor Mel Gibson. Flight Risk was picked up after being voted onto the “Black List” of the most-liked unproduced screenplays in Hollywood. In this way, Flight Risk has a lot going for it, and therefore, its success could help Mark Wahlberg immensely.

Mark Wahlberg’s Disappointing Box Office Streak Explained

Wahlberg has had a long string of box office flops

Mark Wahlberg’s recent movie flops are easily characterized by their Rotten Tomatoes scores, but there are also their box office performances to dissect. While many of Wahlberg’s failures have been streaming movies, so they lacked a box office performance, others hit the box office with highly disappointing numbers.

For example, 2024’s Arthur the King made $22 million on a $19 million budget and 2020’s Scoob! earned $28.5 million on a whooping $90 million budget. Only Uncharted’s box office was strong.

There are a number of reasons why these movies are not working, and they often have nothing at all to do with Mark Wahlberg. If anything, it is more about the material he is choosing to appear in rather than his actual performances. Wahlberg’s most recent movies, especially those released in theaters, have been those with more touching, family-friendly stories. Arthur the King and Father Stu should have pulled on people’s heartstrings, but they ended up flopping. And even a franchise like Scoob! seemed to be a bad choice, as the movie seemingly garnered no interest at all from audiences.

Mel Gibson’s Box Office Record Is Good News For Mark Wahlberg’s Flight Risk

Mel Gibson has a success streak at the box office

Mark Wahlberg has struggled with his bad box office streak for the past four years, but Flight Risk could finally break the spell due to the film’s director, Mel Gibson. Since 1993, Gibson has directed five movies, and Flight Risk will be his sixth. Of those movies, almost all of them have been quite successful at the box office. Aside from his first film, The Man Without a Face, Mel Gibson’s movies have all grossed over $100 million at the box office. For example, Braveheart earned $213 million while his most recent film, Hacksaw Ridge earned $180 million.

Overall, Mel Gibson’s success as a director means that Mark Wahlberg may finally have a chance at breaking his bad box office trend. While Flight Risk is not guaranteed to be successful, Gibson’s track record means that the likelihood is fairly high. Even a performance of $100 million would be good enough. Furthermore, the movie has a promising cast, and considering that it is one of most liked screenplays in Hollywood, there must be something there to get audiences interested. With Gibson behind the camera leading the way, Flight Risk could be Mark Wahlberg’s chance at a box office upswing.

What We Know About Mark Wahlberg’s Flight Risk Villain

Wahlberg’s villain is particularly chaotic

Though not much has been released about the plot of Flight Risk, Mark Wahlberg has spoken out about his role as the movie’s villain. Flight Risk follows an Air Marshal escorting a fugitive through the Alaskan wilderness on a small plane and begins to suspect that the pilot is not who he says he is. In an interview with Collider, Wahlberg praised his experience working on Flight Risk, and said of his role, “I play the craziest f*cker you’ve ever seen.”

Considering that Wahlberg has not played a villain in quite a while, his role in Flight Risk is incredibly exciting. Hopefully, as time goes on, audiences will learn even more about Wahlberg’s part in Flight Risk, and the movie itself. And if all goes well, hopes are high that Flight Risk can save Mark Wahlberg from his box office rut and lead him into a string of great, unforgettable movies.