‘By Any Means’ Box Office Struggles Despite Solid B+ CinemaScore

Labor Day weekend at the multiplex was always going to be a crowded fight, and Paramount’s newest release walked into it with barely a whisper of promotion. ‘By Any Means‘ arrived in theaters carrying real star power in Mark Wahlberg and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, plus a premise rooted in one of the darkest chapters of American history, yet the film’s rollout felt more like a quiet slip onto marquees than a proper theatrical event.

The movie, directed by Elegance Bratton, follows a young Black FBI agent played by Abdul-Mateen who is sent into 1960s Mississippi to investigate a string of brutal killings targeting civil rights leaders. To crack the case, he’s forced into an uneasy partnership with Wahlberg’s character, a mafia hitman turned informant loosely inspired by real-life figure Gregory Scarpa. The story draws from real events surrounding the murder of civil rights activist Vernon Dahmer.

According to industry tracker and box office analyst Luiz Fernando, despite the near-total absence of marketing, ‘By Any Means’ actually connected with the audiences who did show up, earning a solid B+ CinemaScore, a strong grade for an R-rated actioner. But that goodwill hasn’t translated into ticket sales, with the film reportedly grossing $2.7 million on its Friday opening day, a number that includes $725,000 from Thursday previews.

That preview figure lines up with what box office trackers have independently reported. Paramount’s Thursday previews for the film brought in $725,000 across 2,350 theaters, a modest start for a movie with genuine star wattage behind it. Deadline reported the film’s four-day holiday weekend outlook sits between $6 million and $8 million, putting it on track to battle Pixar’s ‘Cars’ rerelease for a spot in this weekend’s top three, rather than commanding the box office outright.

Complicating matters further is the film’s budget. ‘By Any Means’ was financed by Hammerstone Studios for $29 million, a figure that doesn’t include marketing costs. That kind of price tag means the film will need real staying power domestically, plus meaningful contributions from international markets, to avoid becoming another cautionary tale about mid-budget adult dramas struggling to find their audience in a marketplace dominated by franchises and sequels.

Critical reception has been mixed, which may partly explain the underwhelming rollout. The Hollywood Reporter described the pairing of Wahlberg and Abdul-Mateen as an odd combination that doesn’t always click, and suggested Wahlberg felt somewhat miscast against the Brooklyn gangster archetype he’s portraying. Other reviews have flagged tension between the film’s attempt to interrogate state-sanctioned violence and its tendency to lean into revenge as a form of justice, suggesting its ambitions occasionally outpace its execution.

Behind the camera, the film boasts real pedigree. Terence Blanchard composed the score, while Ante Cheng served as cinematographer, and the supporting cast includes Nicole Beharie, Josh Lucas, LisaGay Hamilton, LaChanze, Ethan Embry, David Strathairn, and Giancarlo Esposito. The production itself wasn’t without hiccups either, as Abdul-Mateen joined the cast in a replacement capacity after Sterling K. Brown exited the project.

For a film with this much talent both in front of and behind the camera, the muted box office start is a reminder of just how difficult it has become for original, mid-budget thrillers to break through without a substantial marketing push.

Whether ‘By Any Means’ can leverage strong reviews from actual audiences into a longer theatrical run, or whether it fades quickly under the shadow of bigger holiday weekend releases, will likely come down to word of mouth over the next several weeks. For now, its fate rests on exactly the kind of grassroots momentum that a B+ CinemaScore is meant to signal, but that no studio can fully control once a film hits theaters with minimal fanfare behind it.