Jon Bernthal has been a part of some major successful franchises throughout his career, but he's currently riding a career high that has pleasantly surprised so many of his devoted fans. The star broke onto the scene back in 2010 due to his complex performance as Shane Walsh in The Walking Dead and he made such an impression that lasted well beyond the character's two seasons. A few years later, he would join the biggest franchise in the world when he portrayed The Punisher in Daredevil, which would inevitably lead to further opportunities as the character.
Bernthal's most recent appearance as the character has come in his first time playing Frank Castle on the big screen in this summer's Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The film was always going to be a success story but it has ripped up the rulebook and carved out a space for itself in the history books in the process.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day nabs highest-grossing domestic opening weekend ever
It's official: Spider-Man: Brand New Day has had the biggest opening weekend in US history. Yes, even bigger than that of Avengers: Endgame, which set the record all the way back in 2019 as fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe flocked to see how the Infinity Saga might conclude. Although initial reports hadBrand New Day coming in just 2 million below Avengers, revised numbers on Monday morning confirmed that Spidey's new adventure took the crown from Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
That's a pretty big deal for multiple reasons. For starters, Tom Holland who plays the webslinger now stars in the four highest-grossing opening weekends in domestic box office history (and global box office history, too), which is very impressive. Moreover, it also highlights just how powerful the webslinger is as he was able to overcome the Avengers in domestic markets.
To put all of that in perspective, here is a list of the highest-grossing opening weekends in US box office history just to give you an idea of how highly Spider-Man: Brand New Day ranks:
- Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026) - $360 million
- Avengers: Endgame (2019) - $357.1 million
- Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) - $260.1 million
- Avengers: Infinity War (2018) - $257.6 million
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) - $247.9 million
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) - $220 million
- Deadpool and Wolverine (2024) - $211.4 million
- Jurassic World (2015) - $208.8 million
This comes after the movie shattered the record for the biggest opening day in US box office history. Furthermore, it was succeeded by the fact that the film became the second-fastest ever to reach $1 billion worldwide (just after Avengers: Endgame), doing so in four days. It's now expected to reach $2 billion before the end of next week. Again, this is just incredible - even for a highly-anticipated title like Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
It's particularly impressive because, despite taking place as part of the MCU's Multiverse Saga, it's the most street-level Spider-Man movie from the franchise yet. It didn't have multiversal villains, Doctor Strange, or returning actors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield to pull OG fans in. In just had Spider-Man, MJ, Ned, The Punisher, the Hulk, and Sadie Sink's mystery character (who we won't spoil here). And it did the unthiknkable in the process.
Bernthal, Holland, and Zendaya are enjoying a thrilling run at the box office right now, with both Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The Odyssey tearing up records. Both films - which all three star in - made a combined $1 billion at the worldwide box office this weekend alone, making history all around. And it's so great to see such success for all three actors. Of course, as Walking Dead fans, we can't help but be thrilled to see Bernthal riding the high of his career right now.
Spider-Man actually marks the second time that he has played Frank this year, as he starred in Disney Plus Special Presentation The Punisher: One Last Kill earlier this summer - for which he received acclaim for his performance. The special also held onto the No. 1 spot in Disney Plus' movie charts for a very long time as fans scrambled to get caught up on Frank's story before his silver screen MCU debut.
Bernthal originally played the role in the Marvel Netflix franchise, appearing in Daredevil and The Punisher. When Marvel Studios officially revived that franchise (and made it canon to the MCU), he made his official return to the role in Daredevil: Born Again. It's safe to say that he hasn't regretted coming back and now he has the opportunity to showcase Frank's story on a much bigger stage - which is making history for Bernthal's own career, taking him to new box office heights in the process.
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