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The Punisher The Punisher is a 2004 film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, starring Thomas Jane as Frank Castle and John Travolta as Howard Saint, the money launderer who orders the death of Castle's entire family. The story and plot were mainly based on two Punisher comic book stories; The Punisher: Year One and Welcome Back, Frank along with scenes from other Punisher stories such as Marvel Preview: Featuring The Punisher #2, The Punisher War Zone and The Punisher War Journal.

The Punisher opened in 2,649 theatres on April 16, 2004 and grossed $13,834,527 over its opening weekend. The film has a domestic gross of $33,810,189 and a foreign gross of $20,889,916, giving it a worldwide total of $54,700,105. Remake with Ray Stevenson as Frank castle for 2008 Dec.

On its release, it was met with mainly negative reviews, and received a 28% rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Many have defended the movie stating that compared to most comic book based movies, it is a well done throwback to the old school action movies of the 1960's and 1970s.

Lions Gate Entertainment had greenlit a direct sequel to be made due to the strong performance the film had on DVD. However, the project lingered in development for over three years. Jonathan Hensleigh completed a first draft of the script before pulling out around 2006. John Dahl was in talks to direct the film but pulled out due to the script not being good and the studio not wanting to spend a lot of money on the project. In a statement on May 15, 2007 and in two audio interviews Thomas Jane said that he pulled out of the project due to creative differences and the budget of the film being cut, in addition to director Walter Hill being turned down as director by Lions Gate. Remake with Ray Stevenson as Frank castle for 2008 Dec.