Summary
- Arthur the King is Wahlberg’s highest rated movie by audience approval, with a score of 98% on Rotten Tomatoes.
- The film, based on a true story, showcases Wahlberg’s emotional side in a heartwarming tale of endurance and friendship.
- Despite facing injury during filming, Wahlberg pushed through to bring the character to life in this successful movie about unlikely bonds.
Mark Wahlberg has unexpected gained a new career high with his latest film, Arthur the King. While critics have been positive about the movie, audiences on Rotten Tomatoes have gone one step further and given the movie an almost perfect score of 98%, which is enough to make it Wahlberg’s highest rated movie ever by audience approval score.
Arthur the King
3/5
- Release Date
- March 15, 2024
- Director
- Simon Cellan Jones
- Studio
- Lions Gate Films, Tucker Tooley Entertainment
- Tagline
- An unexpected encounter. An unlikely bond. An unforgettable adventure.
Arthur the King is a heartwarming tale, based on the true story of an adventure racer who adopts a stray dog named Arthur during a grueling endurance race. The film is a movie that relies on Wahlberg showing his emotional side rather than playing the action hero or relying on his comedy chops, and clearly this is something that he has excelled in.
Critically, Arthur the King has received mixed reviews, with a 63% approval rating from critics, who have praised its ability to tug at the heartstrings, despite suggesting a more subtle approach might have been more effective. The film, however, seems to be able to do no wrong as far as audiences are concerned, which once again shows the distinct split in opinions between those who review movies as a profession, and those who pay to watch them for pleasure.
Mark Wahlberg Had To Push Himself Through Injury to Finish Arthur the King
Arthur the King’s success with audiences will no doubt come as a relief for star Wahlberg, as he had to suffer for his art thanks to an injury he sustained on the first day of filming the movie. In an interview with MovieWeb, Wahlberg recalled how playing the part of an adventure racer definitely wasn’t a walk in the park. He said:
“[The production] was good until I busted my knee on day one. You always just want to look the part. I always feel like if I can be believable, as a guy who can kind of go out there and run an adventure race, then I’ll do the man justice. But after I tore my knee, it was just like, everyone else was worried that we were going to shut down the movie, I was going to have the surgery. And Mikael was like, ‘No, this is what it’s about. You have to go through all of this pain and the suffering.'”
Arthur the King was released on March 15, going up against the new release of The American Society of Magical Negroes, and the expansion of Kristen Stewart’s Love Lies Bleeding, but its main competition came from the previous week’s release of animated sequel Kung Fu Panda 4. As the Jack Black led movie continued to dominate the domestic chart, collecting over $30 million on its second weekend, Wahlberg’s film debuted with $7.5 million, and took third place behind Dune: Part Two.
3:19
Mark Wahlberg Suffered an Injury on First Day Filming Arthur the King, Credits His Faith for ‘Everything’
Mark Wahlberg credits his success both personally and professionally to his faith and reveals he was injured on day one of filming Arthur the King.
With a reported budget of $19 million, this was not the greatest start financially for Arthur the King, but with such strong audience reviews, it could be possible for the film to gain a little more from word of mouth. Of course, it will also have a streaming release to come, so, all in all, the film may not have become a surprise box office moneyspinner, but it has proven to be a success in other ways.
Arthur the King
is currently playing in theaters.
