Mark Wahlberg's 108-Minute Dog Adventure Movie Is Getting A Second Life On Netflix

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Hollywood loves a man and dog story. At one point, they banked on people's love for canines so much they just called a movie "Dog" (itself a pretty decent feel-good tale). We've also had "Max," the story of a military dog that's adopted by his handler's family, "A Dog's Purpose," "A Dog's Journey," "A Dog's Way Home," and "Hachi: A Dog's Tale." There's even "Good Boy," the inventive and creepy horror movie shot from a dog's perspective. That brings us to the Mark Wahlberg-led "Arthur the King," which is not, in fact, about medieval English folklore. It's about — you guessed it — a man and his dog.

The film wasn't exactly a flop back in 2024, making $40.8 million at the box office on a $19 million budget. But it couldn't have been described as a phenomenon, either. As such, you may have missed it when it debuted in theaters. But now, the champion of overlooked movies, Netflix, has rescued "Arthur the King" from the shelter and given him a new home.

The film is already proving popular with Netflixers, and why shouldn't it? The only thing better than a charming, emotional man and dog tale is when that same tale is based on real events. That's exactly what you're getting with "Arthur the King." The movie tells the true story of a stray dog who accompanied an adventure racing team on a grueling trek across a jungle, finding a new home in the process. It's a real-life "Homeward Bound," but instead of a talking Golden Retriever and his animal friends, it's Wahlberg and a street dog. That might not sound all that great, but the movie received solid reviews and, again, has fared well on the Netflix charts.

"Arthur the King" was directed by British filmmaker Simon Cellan Jones, who'd mostly worked in TV before teaming up with Mark Wahlberg for "The Family Plan" in 2023. The pair then reunited for "Arthur the King," which was based on the memoir "Arthur: The Dog Who Crossed the Jungle to Find a Home" by Swedish adventure racer Mikael Lindnord. The book chronicles the true story of a dog who crossed the Ecuadorian jungle alongside Lindnord as he embarked on an endurance race.

In the film, however, Wahlberg plays Michael Light, a fictionalized version of Lindnord who journeys through the Dominican Republic as part of his final attempt to complete a grueling 435-mile endurance race. Just to make things a little more interesting, the movie teams Wahlberg's endurance racer with a former colleague, Leo (Simu Liu), with whom he'd fallen out on their last attempt at the race. He's also joined by Nathalie Emmanuel's climber Olivia and an older team member, Chik (Ali Suliman).

But the most important character here is, of course, Arthur, a stray dog who follows the group on their perilous trek and ends up saving their lives. With their new canine companion in tow, the team push ahead, yet more danger awaits.

The film doubles as a solid little adventure drama, with fractious relationships threatening to scupper the team's chances of finally claiming victory. But as you might expect from any movie where the dog is the main focus, it ultimately gets pretty emotional. So, prepare yourself if you're planning on joining Netflix's "Arthur" renaissance.

To put it bluntly, Mark Wahlberg makes a ton of movies. As such, "Arthur the King" was always in danger of falling through the cracks. But it turned out to be a significant entry in the man's late-career filmography. 

Wahlberg's previous two films, "Me Time" and "The Family Plan," were streaming exclusives, making "Arthur the King" a fairly big deal for the actor as his first theatrical release in a while. Prior to its release, "Arthur the King" looked like a potential under-the-radar box office hit. Ultimately, it did okay. $40.8 million is a decent gross, but it was hardly the $84.5 million Channing Tatum's "Dog" had made two years prior. What's more, making double your budget is an admirable achievement, but if you know anything about how the box office actually works "Arthur the King" probably didn't turn much of a profit based on its theatrical gross alone. Still, it was far from a failure and today boasts a respectable 71% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Now, the movie has captured the attention of Netflixers in the United States. As per streaming viewership tracker FlixPatrol, after debuting on the service on August 11, 2026, the film steadily climbed the most-watched movie charts, hitting number four as of August 15, 2026. It remained there for several days before falling to fifth on August 19 and dropping to seventh the following day. But like Wahlberg's endurance racing team and their canine companion, this movie seems to be going the distance, as it's now been in the movie charts for more than a week. There are certainly far worse choices for a weekend watch, so why not join in this latest Netflix revival?