NEW YORK — Critics lambasted it and audiences didn’t grade it much better. But despite the turbulence, Mel Gibson’s “Flight Risk” managed to open No. 1 at the box office with a modest $12 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Mark Wahlberg stars in the action-thriller, which marks Gibson's first directorial effort in nearly a decade. Elsewhere, Steven Soderbergh's artsy haunted house thriller 'Presence' opened in 1,750 cinemas.

Mel Gibson's new action film "Flight Risk" has topped the North American box office, taking in an estimated $12 million on a slow winter weekend, industry analysts said Sunday.