Arthur the King

Arthur the King is a 2024 American adventure film directed by Simon Cellan Jones, written by Michael Brandt, and starring Mark Wahlberg, Simu Liu, and Juliet Rylance. It is based on a true event Arthur - The Dog Who Crossed the Jungle to Find a Home by Mikael Lindnord. In the film, the captain of an adventure racing team befriends a wounded stray dog named Arthur, who accompanies the team on a grueling 435-mile (700-km) endurance race through the Dominican Republic.

The film was announced in 2019 as a Paramount Players release. It moved to Lionsgate in June 2020 and filming began in the Dominican Republic in January 2021. The film was released on March 15, 2024.

Plot
In 2015, in Costa Rica, Michael Light, an American runner, and his adventure racing team gets stuck on the first day after their leader takes the poor decision to kayak against the tide. Leo, one of the members of the team, is outraged that Michael has not paid attention to their opinions.

After a 3 year lapse in his career, in 2018, Michael is not satisfied with himself and 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 Chik, an older racer, whose recovery from a knee injury is uncertain. However his sponsor imposes the 4th team member, Leo, Michael's original team member, and now a social media celebrity; and, much against his own will, Light accepts. They fly from the USA to the Dominican Republic for a 5-day race mostly through mountainous jungle terrain. On the second day of the race Michael gives meatballs to a stray dog at the transition camp. Much further ahead in the race, in the middle of the jungle, the dog finds them and does not stop following them.

During their walk at night the dog saves Leo and the Team from falling off a cliff and 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 leading the race, however, 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 to sleep to prevent further suffering, which Michael refuses. He manages to take him to the USA, where the dog is saved.

Production
Baltasar Kormákur was initially going to direct the film, but dropped out due to schedule conflicts.

The casting of Mark Wahlberg was announced in July 2019. 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.

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. That December, it was reported that Lionsgate had also left the film.

Filming instead began in January 2021, in the Dominican Republic. In November 2023, Lionsgate had rejoined as a distributor and set a release date of March 15, 2024.

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. The film made $3 million on its first day, including $825,000 from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $7.5 million, finishing third at the box office.

Critical response
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.

A rather positive review at rogerebert.com wrote, "It is really three movies in one, all watchable, but the pieces do not always mesh."

Variety 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." while 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."