Liam Neeson Hits All-Time Career Box Office Low With New Action Movie

Published Nov 2, 2026, 12:20 PM EST

Brennan Klein (he/him) is a senior news writer at Screen Rant, host of the Attack of the Queerwolf podcast, and contributor at Alternate Ending and Horror Press. He has been writing and podcasting about pop culture (especially horror movies) for over a decade at platforms including Blumhouse, Fangoria, Dread Central, The Backlot, and Arrow in the Head.

The Mongoose couldn't drive fast enough to avoid a disappointing box office record.

The action thriller movie, which was directed by Mark Vanselow (Liam Neeson's longtime stunt double) from a screenplay by Thompson Evans (Buried in Barstow), stars Neeson as Ryan "Fang" Flanagan, a veteran who seeks help from members of his former United States Army Special Forces unit when he is blamed for a murder he didn't commit and flees the scene in a high-speed chase. The star-studded supporting cast includes Marisa Tomei, Michael Chiklis, and Ving Rhames. The Mongoose reviews have been overwhelmingly negative, earning it a Rotten Tomatoes score of 29%.

Per Box Office Mojo, The Mongoose has earned a 3-day total of $480,000 in 1,014 theaters over Halloween weekend, debuting at No. 18 on the domestic chart with a per-screen average of $473. This marks the 177th worst debut per-screen average of all time and sees multiple movies that played in fewer theaters charting above it, including Everest: The Other Side (No. 15 with $1 million in 515 theaters) and Aadarsha Kutumbam House No: 47 (No. 13 with $1.15 million on 367 screens). The Mongoose has also earned the worst domestic debut in history for a wide-release Liam Neeson movie.

Even without adjusting for inflation, no other Liam Neeson movie that opened on more than 600 screens has ever grossed less than $500,000 during its opening weekend. Below, see a breakdown of the only movies to feature the star (in either a lead or supporting role) to ever debut below $1 million in wide release, both of which also debuted this year.

Title	Domestic Debut (Theaters)	Theaters	Debut PSA	Worldwide Box Office
The Fix (2026)	$726,161	1,205	$602	$1.3 million
Cold Pursuit (2026)	$936,170	1,041	$899	$4.1 million

While all three 2026 movies that earned less than $1 million played in relatively few theaters, Neeson has had numerous movies that debuted in limited release but managed to beat The Mongoose's debut thanks to stellar per-screen averages, including 2010's Chloe (which earned $900,688 in 350 theaters with a per-screen average of $2,573) and 2000's Gun Shy (which earned $703,109 in 296 theaters with a per-screen average of $2,375).

Given the precedent set by both of these previous titles, The Mongoose is almost certainly on track to earn less than $5 million by the end of its run. It is highly likely that it will end up closer to the $1.3 million overall gross of The Fix, which similarly underperformed critically with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 16% (Cold Storage reviews, on the other hand, earned it a Certified Fresh score of 80%).

Choose the movie with the higher Rotten Tomatoes score.

This is likely a bad sign for The Mongoose, which reportedly cost $20 million to make. That budget could place its estimated break-even point as high as $50 million, a benchmark which the movie is extraordinarily unlikely to reach in theaters. While it may perform better on video on demand and streaming (it is being distributed on Prime Video this week in some international territories, including Australia and Canada), it is ultimately unclear what its prospects might be, especially considering it has not yet earned enough user reviews to have a Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter score.

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