Alan Ritchson's New 'Reacher' Replacement Officially Removed From 2,500 Theaters

After a so-so run at the box office, Alan Ritchson is all set to debut his new action movie on home turf — home video. Ritchson has emerged as one of the biggest streaming stars of his generation, thanks to a starring role in Prime Video's blockbuster action series Reacher, which recently concluded its fourth season with record viewership and near-unanimous praise. Earlier this year, Ritchson starred in the sci-fi action movie War Machine, which emerged as one of Netflix's biggest-ever hits and is all set to get a sequel. Despite his popularity at home, Ritchson has yet to deliver a big-screen hit. His two theatrical releases this year — Motor City and Runner — played well with their target audiences, but didn't break out at the box office. While Motor City has found some success on PVOD in recent weeks, now it's Runner's turn.

Directed by Scott Waugh and also featuring Owen Wilson, the movie was distributed domestically by Angel Studios, the outfit that is trying to expand from its faith-based roots. Angel has attempted to break out into the mainstream with genre movies that retain a religious undercurrent. Runner, for instance, follows a Good Samaritan who teams up with a courier to deliver a liver to a dying girl while being chased by gangsters. It should work as an interesting double-bill with Zach Cregger's Resident Evil. Unlike that movie, which has generated more than $300 million worldwide so far, Runner has only been able to gross around $18 million at the box office, against a reported budget of $45 million.

'Runner' Has Lost Most of Its Theaters In the Past Month

That budget puts it in the same bracket as recent Jason Statham films such as Mutiny, The Beekeeper, A Working Man, and Shelter. Runner was able to match the two most recent Statham vehicles — Mutiny and Shelter — at the domestic box office, and is poised to do well at home thanks to a "Verified Hot" 89% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. The film also holds a solid 77% critics' score on the aggregator website, where the consensus reads, "Fast and gleefully over-the-top, Runner makes the most of Alan Ritchson and Owen Wilson's winning chemistry to deliver crowd-pleasing action and humor with plenty of heart." As of its fifth weekend, the movie's theatrical footprint has reduced from 2,568 to 78. Runner will be released on PVOD on October 13, along with the fantasy sequel Practical Magic 2 and the sci-fi movie Hope.