Flight Risk, with Mark Wahlberg and helmed by Mel Gibson, grossed $950K in previews. It's eyeing an $11M opening for No. 1, Lionsgate's second YTD.

Mel Gibson’s “Flight Risk” managed to open No. 1 at the box office with a modest $12 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Flight Risk,” an action thriller directed by Mel Gibson and starring Mark Wahlberg as a balding, unhinged pilot, landed in first place with $12 million from 3,161 North American theaters in its opening weekend.

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 a modest $12 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Lionsgate’s advertising campaign for “Flight Risk” credits its latest film to “the award-winning director of ‘Braveheart,’ ‘Apocalypto’ and ‘Hacksaw Ridge’,” which seems a circumspect way of recognizing Mel Gibson as its helmer.

The premise is simple: Michelle Dockery plays U.S. Marshal Madolyn, tasked with transporting wiseass accountant Winston (Topher Grace) on a prop plane from Alaska to Seattle. Daryl (Mark Wahlberg), their shady pilot, is secretly working for the bad guys and tasked with killing Winston before he can testify. That’s it. That’s the setup.

Mark Wahlberg stars in the action-thriller, which marks the first film Gibson has directed in nearly a decade.

Mel Gibson's new action film "Flight Risk" has topped the North American box office, taking in an estimated $12 million on a slow winter weekend, industry analysts said Sunday.

Mel Gibson’s new action film Flight Risk has topped the North American box office, taking in an estimated $12 million on a slow winter

MEL Gibson’s new action film Flight Risk has topped the North American box office, taking in an estimated US$12 million on a slow winter weekend, industry analysts said on Sunday. Read more at The Business Times.

But despite the turbulence, Mel Gibson’s “Flight Risk” managed ... the top spot went to the Lionsgate thriller starring Mark Wahlberg as a pilot flying an Air Marshal (Michelle Dockery ...

Mel Gibson clearly brought energy to the "Flight Risk" set as director ... emanating the intensity of his iconic character William Wallace in a promo pushing his newest film -- face paint and all.