The film was announced in 2019 as a Paramount Players release, but moved to Lionsgate in June 2020. Filming began in the Dominican Republic in January 2021, and the film was theatrically released on March 15, 2024. It received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics and grossed $40 million worldwide.
Plot
In 2015 in Costa Rica, American runner Michael Light and his adventure racing team gets stuck on the first day after he makes the poor decision to kayak against the tide. Leo, one of the members of the team, is outraged that Michael disregarded their opinions.
After a three year lapse in his career, Michael is living in Colorado Springs and not satisfied with himself. Married to Helen, who had been on the 2015 team, and working for his father Charlie's realty, he wants to feel fulfilled. Looking at the viral Instagram post of that failure, his 19th attempt to win the international race, Helen encourages him to get a team together and seek a sponsor.
So, Michael decides to race one more time with the hope of winning a race at last. He chooses two of his teammates: Olivia, a climber whose father made a career in the same discipline; and the older racer Chik, who had been dropped from a multi-winning Australian team due to a knee injury whose recovery is uncertain. However, his sponsor Broadrail offers half the money he asks for and imposes the 4th team member, Leo. He is Michael's original team member, and now a social media celebrity, who he has not spoken to since the humiliating viral post. Against his own will, Light accepts.
Finding Leo in California, who is in a promotional photo shoot for his new line of clothing, Michael is forced into admitting his egocentricity cost them the 2015 race. He promises to listen to the team this time.
The team flies from the USA to the Dominican Republic with only four days to acclimate and train for the 5-day race, as their sponsor would not invest more in them. 54 teams from 30 countries are competing against one another, and the route passes through mostly mountainous jungle terrain. Each team chooses their own route to each checkpoint, and Chik is their navigator. The over 400 mile route includes trekking, climbing, biking and kayaking.
Just before the race begins, Olivia confesses that she's there for her dad, as he has little time left due to pancreatic cancer. So she, Chik and Michael are all in, as none believes they will try again. The first leg of the race is trekking. As they are resting
and refueling themselves at the first transition camp, Michael gives meatballs to a stray dog. During stages 2 and 3, an almost 200 mile all-terrain section, they rock climb with their bikes strapped to their backs.
Then, finding cables for zip lining, they decide to use them, again strapping their bikes to them. Chik and Leo make it without a hitch. However, Olivia's pulley gets stuck on a fraying cable, so Michael does a complicated manoever that saves them both. At transition area 6, the halfway point, the team rests 35 minutes rather than the allotted hour.
Now night-trekking in the jungle, they must deal with heavy rain. Leo starts to film them with his phone, as Michael sees he might again use it against them, he tosses it. An argument breaks out between them, Michael reveals he knew Chik's knee was not 100% and Leo that he does not believe they can win. The dog interrupts, barking, then later saves Leo and the Team from falling off a cliff so they all adopt him as one of them and call him Arthur, the King.
For the last part of the competition, and while they are the race leader, they have to leave Arthur on shore to kayak on sea. But as they see the dog is about to drown while following them, they go back and save him. The team is thus delayed and loses the race, arriving second.
Arthur collapses on arrival and a veterinarian finds he is severely infected by parasites, advising to put him down to prevent further suffering, which Michael refuses. He manages to take him to the USA, where the dog is saved.
Baltasar Kormákur was initially going to direct the film,[8] but dropped out due to schedule conflicts.[9]
The casting of Mark Wahlberg was announced in July 2019.[10][11][12] In December 2020, it was announced that Simu Liu, Ali Suliman and Rob Collins were cast in the film and that Simon Cellan Jones would replace Kormákur.[9]
Paramount Players was initially attached as distributor, but left the film for unknown reasons and was replaced by Lionsgate in June 2020. Filming was planned to begin in Puerto Rico that fall.[13] That December, it was reported that Lionsgate had also left the film.[9]
Filming instead began in January 2021, in the Dominican Republic.[7] In November 2023, Lionsgate had rejoined as a distributor and set a release date of March 15, 2024.[5]
Reception
Box office
In the United States, Arthur the King was released alongside The American Society of Magical Negroes and the wide expansion of Love Lies Bleeding, and was projected to gross $8–10 million from 3,003 theaters in its opening weekend.[14] The film made $3 million on its first day, including $825,000 from Thursday night previews.[15] It went on to debut to $7.5 million, finishing third at the box office.[2]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 69% of 85 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The website's consensus reads: "It's hard to deny Arthur the King's ability to tug at the heartstrings, although it may have been more effective if it had taken a subtler approach."[16]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 54 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[17] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled by PostTrak gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars, with 75% saying they would definitely recommend the film.[2]
Nell Arthur of RogerEbert.com wrote, "It is really three movies in one, all watchable, but the pieces do not always mesh."[18]Variety's Courtney Howard found that "If indelible Movie Moments are in short supply, inevitably making Wahlberg and Ukai's chemistry the true highlight, the film's sentiments on selflessness nonetheless stand out. They're a ringing testament to the powerful bond between man and dog, and a kind-hearted reminder that canine companionship can be a lifeline in troubled times."[19] Katie Walsh of the Los Angeles Times commented, "Suffering may be Wahlberg's raison d'être, but this is a lighter and more uplifting mode for the actor, who clearly enjoys the extreme physicality of the performance, even if the emotional tenor is well within his established star persona. And if you’re a dog person, it will be impossible to resist the tale of Arthur and his knights of extreme sports."[20]
