Arthur the King Doggy Praised by Mark Wahlberg and Simu Liu

There are a lot of warm, gripping, and beautiful moments in the recent movie Arthur the King, and while Mark Wahlberg gives a very visceral performance, it’s undoubtedly the titular dog who steals the show. The canine actor is named Ukai, and in a new featurette (which you can watch above), we go behind the scenes with the incredible and adorable puppy behind the inspiring hit with Wahlberg and Simu Liu. The touching movie is a physical and emotional journey based on the true story of adventure racer Mikael Lindnord and Arthur, the dog that changed Lindnord’s life. Arthur the King is now available on Electronic Sell-Through, Blu-ray+DVD, and Digital.

Mark Wahlberg unexpectedly achieved a new career high with 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 97%, 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 after Father Stu, it’s clear that this is something he’s been excelling in.

Critically, Arthur the King has received positive reviews, with a 70% 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. MovieWeb met Ukai the dog for a delightful sit-down, which you can watch below:

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.'”

Watch Our Full Interview with Mark Wahlberg Below:

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 the 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.

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.