Flight Risk,” an action thriller directed by Mel Gibson and starring Mark Wahlberg as a balding, unhinged pilot, landed in first place with $12 million from 3,161 North American theaters in its opening weekend.

Like its fellow January release “Den of Thieves: Pantera,” “Flight Risk” follows the Lionsgate blueprint of being a low budget thrill ride financed through slate deals, co-production partnerships and foreign sales that will allow it to clear a low break-even point.

Mark Wahlberg tells PEOPLE he "apologized at the end of" shooting his new movie 'Flight Risk' for keeping to himself on set in order to stay in the villain's mindset. "If we weren't shooting, I was like either off in the corner by myself or I just would kind of go back to my little dressing room,