The streaming service HBO Max is known for its wealth of excellent content, but it has also been able to rescue one of 2025’s blockbuster flops. While it’s often best known for its great TV shows, HBO Max hosts a massive catalog of streaming content, with its original shows and HBO series from the past joined by many great movies ranging from aging classics to more recent cinematic fare. After a major cinematic release, some movies find themselves landing on streaming platforms sooner rather than later, the time frame of which often varies wildly depending on the studio involved, the distribution rights, and the overall success of the movie in question.
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Mark Wahlberg-led and Mel Gibson-directed Flight Risk stands out as one of 2025’s biggest action flops. The movie, which follows a pilot (Wahlberg) who is transporting a US Marshall and a fugitive across the Alaskan wilderness in a small charter plane, was Mel Gibson’s lowest box office opening in 30 years, marking it as a significant disappointment. However, its arrival on HBO Max has garnered it impressive and somewhat unexpected streaming success, with the movie consistently hitting the platform’s top spot every day since its streaming release.
Why Flight Risk Has Found Greater Success On HBO Max
Considering Flight Risk was a pretty disappointing box office flop, its streaming success might seem a little odd. The movie, which notoriously saw Mark Wahlberg get a bald makeover, earned just $48.7 million at the box office against a production budget of $25 million, and received largely negative reviews from critics, who felt it was overly simplistic and generally unimpressive. Its streaming success seems to paint a very different picture of the movie, though.
Although Flight Risk may not have featured the best action scenes of 2025, its status as a claustrophobic action thriller packs a certain appeal. Action and thriller movies regularly perform well on streaming platforms, with audiences far more likely to engage with even poorly-reviewed movies in the comfort of their own home than they are to buy a ticket to see it. And, considering Flight Risk‘s unique qualities, this effect seems to have been compounded.
The most talked-about element of Flight Risk remains Mark Wahlberg’s bizarre hairstyle. It gave the movie the sort of publicity that often translates to streaming success. Considering streaming is perceived as far more risk-free for audiences, as they have already paid their monthly fee for the platform, they are far more willing to engage with a movie like Flight Risk, even though its disappointing cinematic release was marred by poor reviews. Thankfully, it seems to have found its second wind on HBO Max.
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Image courtesy of Lucasfilm
