LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 19: (L-R) Mark Wahlberg and Ukai attend a Los Angeles special ... [+]
Mark Wahlberg’s new dog movie Arthur the King is available to watch online following its debut in theaters in March.
Arthur the King is an inspiring family-themed adventure based on Swedish endurance athlete Mikael Lindnord’s best-selling book Arthur – The Dog Who Crossed the Jungle to Find a Home. Wahlberg stars as the athlete — renamed Michael Light — in the film, which tells the true story of the profound effect a stray dog had on Lindnord and his adventure racing team during a real-life event in 2018.
In Arthur the King, Michael is a highly competitive endurance racer who vies for one last run at a world championship after his stubbornness doomed his chances years before. Unwilling to let his dream die, Michael assembles a team of three other expert adventure racers (Simi Liu, Nathalie Emmanuel and Ali Suliman) to bike, climb, traverse rough terrain and kayak over a 435-mile trek in the Dominican Republic.
Along the way the team encounters a stray dog Michael calls “Arthur,” who despite his life-threatening wounds follows the team over hundreds of miles. Before too long, the team learns how the unconditional love their new furry friend shows them during the race far outweighs the glory of winning an adventure racing championship.
Per an agreement between the film’s studio Lionsgate and NBC Universal (via The Hollywood Reporter), Arthur the King will eventually make its streaming video on demand debut on Peacock TV.
Until then, there are other options to see the film. As of Tuesday, Arthur the King is available to rent for $19.99 on digital video on various online platforms including Prime Video, AppleTV+ and VUDU. The film can also be purchased on the same platforms for $24.99.
How Did ‘Arthur The King’ Do In Theaters?
Arthur the King was released in just over 3,000 theaters domestically by Lionsgate on March 15 but failed to get legs at the box office despite the star power of Mark Wahlberg.
Arthur the King earned $7.6 million on its opening weekend, the film to date has earned $24.4 million in ticket sales. The film also earned close to $4.2 million in international theaters, for a combined worldwide tally of $28.8 million. Deadline reported that Arthur the King had a production budget of $40 million.
Despite the film’s tepid box office take, Arthur the King was received well by critics on the review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, earning a 69% “fresh” rating on the Tomatometer based on 77 reviews. Audiences on the other hand, seemed to love Arthur the King, as it earned a stellar 97% positive audience score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 1,000-plus verified users.
If the premise of Arthur the King sounds familiar, it’s because the real-life event in 2014 was well documented by sports outlets including ESPN. Photos of the real Arthur, Mikael Lindnord and his family accompany the epilogue during Arthur the King’s end credits.
Arthur, by the way, was played by a dog named Ukai in Arthur the King — and the end credits listed that he had two stunt doubles.
