Mark Wahlberg’s New R-Rated Thriller Officially Smashes Past Jason Statham’s $50M Action Movie in Theaters

Jason Statham has never really been a domestic box-office star in the usual sense. His movies have long played better overseas and in living rooms than they have in American theaters, going back to the Transporter era, when those films did solid but unspectacular theatrical business and then ran on cable endlessly. Even The Beekeeper, his biggest recent hit, made most of its money internationally before turning into a reliable streaming title.

However, one of the more interesting recent box office quirks is that Statham’s January thriller Shelter has now been overtaken domestically by Mark Wahlberg’s By Any Means, even though Wahlberg’s film is also being framed as a flop. Shelter, which put Statham’s retired assassin on a remote Scottish island with Bill Nighy and Naomi Ackie, finished its domestic run at roughly $12.8 million after a $5.5 million opening in late January, among his softest starts in years.

‘Shelter’ Has Been Passed Domestically by ‘By Any Means’

By Any Means, Elegance Bratton’s 1966-set crime thriller with Wahlberg as a mob hitman opposite Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s FBI agent, opened to about $7.5 million over Labor Day and promptly fell 67 percent in its second weekend. That was still enough to carry it past $14 million within two weeks and on toward $16 million, quietly clearing Shelter‘s entire stateside total along the way. One underperformer lapped another, which is arguably the most 2026 box office story imaginable.

According to Box Office Mojo, Shelter pulled nearly $42 million internationally against a reported $50 million budget, so worldwide it remains well ahead of Wahlberg‘s film, which has barely traveled. And Shelter has already run the familiar Statham redemption arc, spending months near the top of Starz’s most-watched chart after arriving on the platform in May. By Any Means will presumably follow a similar path, given that Wahlberg has spent recent years as one of streaming’s most bankable names, reportedly commanding $20 to $25 million per project for the platforms.

Shelter and By Any Means Are Both Underperforming

Reception adds a wrinkle to the Wahlberg side, since By Any Means‘s numbers held up despite reviews that got (very) ugly. One critic called it “a mess of a thing” while another judged it “as crass and morally repugnant as any movie made this year,” and yet audiences gave it an 89 percent Rotten Tomatoes score. That gap suggests the people who did show up got what they came for, which has historically been the thing that keeps this tier of star vehicle alive long after critics check out. Timing likely hurt more than the notices did, since the film opened directly under Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which has spent six straight weeks at number one domestically and left little oxygen for adult-skewing dramas.