Jon Bernthal is having a great year with two blockbusters under his belt. He’s established himself as a scene-stealing character actor, known for his intense, hard-edged roles like the Punisher in the MCU and Shane Walsh from The Walking Dead. He played to his strengths in two of this year’s breakout hits, and both are currently shattering expectations at the box office. One of those films has now also beaten the best Lord of the Rings movie.
The Lord of the Rings saga has expanded well beyond the first three films, spawning a prequel trilogy, a prequel series, and an upcoming spin-off. The original trilogy set a high bar for subsequent films because it elevated the genre with a high fantasy adaptation that impressed mainstream audiences and critics. The three films won 17 Oscars combined, but The Return of the King was a clean sweep — it won 11 awards out of 11 nominations and tied with the records set by Ben-Hur and Titanic. The Return of the King is also the best in the trilogy, with a 9/10 average rating from 2.2 million votes on IMDb.
‘Return of the King’ Is the Second Billion-Dollar Movie
The Lord of the Rings trilogy was massively successful with a combined $2.96 billion grossed globally. The Return of the King earned the most with a $1.1 billion take from its initial run in 2003, marking a milestone for the franchise as the second film to make $1 billion in movie history (after James Cameron’s Titanic). The Return of the King has since been re-released nine times, leading to a lifetime global haul of $1.14 billion.
Over 60 films have passed the billion-dollar milestone since 2003, and The Return of the King currently ranks 36th on that list. Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has now outpaced it with $1.29 billion earned worldwide. It actually climbed nine spots to 27th place this week, now barely ahead of Frozen and Beauty and the Beast. Nolan’s fantasy epic crossed $1 billion on August 7, three weeks after release.
The Lord of the Rings trilogy was an ambitious production, boasting a massive ensemble of A-list actors who reprised their roles across all three films. The Odyssey competes with that with its own stellar cast, headlined by Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, and Charlize Theron. Rounding out that lineup are Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jon Bernthal, who also star in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which became one of the top ten highest-grossing films this week.
‘The Odyssey’ Nears Another Box Office Milestone
The Odyssey is showing strong box office legs domestically with $504 million so far grossed, and it’s also gaining a second wind in holdover markets, debuting in South Korea and China earlier this month. It has so far earned $71 million combined from both territories. The film has now earned a total of $786 million internationally.
The Odyssey has now outpaced 38 billion-dollar movies, and it’s expected to dethrone several more in the coming weeks. It now has its eyes set on its next milestone, as the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time — Deadpool & Wolverine currently holds that record with its $1.34 billion lifetime gross, and The Odyssey only needs to make $47 million more to beat that.
- Release Date
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July 15, 2026
- Runtime
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173 minutes
