Josh Brolin’s Fiery Survival Biopic Returns As One Of The Biggest Movies In The World At The Perfect Time

Published Oct 17, 2026, 12:09 PM EDT

Felipe Rangel is a Movie and TV Journalist ScreenRant. He has been writing about movies and TV since 2021. Felipe joined ScreenRant in 2022, working across different teams, covering everything from breaking news to features to reviews and more.

Felipe is a writer who is an avid film and TV fan, with superhero movies and series being his biggest passion. He graduated from college in 2019, having studied Journalism. Before college, he spent a month studying at the Oxford English Centre. His superhero knowledge expands to the comics, with his undergraduate thesis being "Politics Reflected In American Comics."

Josh Brolin's survival biopic is now gaining traction on streaming years later, and it has become a global hit at the perfect time for the actor. Brolin has starred in many successful movies over the years. For instance, he plays the main villain of the highest-grossing movie of all time, as Avengers: Endgame, in which Brolin plays the biggest villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline, Thanos, just reclaimed that title with Avengers: Endgame Encore's theatrical release, pushing its box office total over Avatar's. Brolin has also appeared in franchises like Deadpool, DC (Jonah Hex), Men in Black, Dune, and more.

As for Brolin's non-franchise work, the actor has starred in some of the best movies of all time. After all, Brolin has played a role in iconic movies like 2010's True Grit, No Country for Old Men, The Goonies, and more. Brolin is part of a massive theatrical slate in 2026, which has already seen major hits like Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Obsession, Project Hail Mary, Backrooms, and more. The actor is set to return as Gurney Halleck in Denis Villeneuve's Dune: Part Three. Before that happens, Brolin's Only the Brave has become a global streaming hit as the actor's new film hits theaters.

Brolin's Only The Brave Has Roared Back To Life On HBO Max

At the time of writing, Only the Brave has become the 4th most-watched movie on HBO Max worldwide, according to data from FlixPatrol. The movie was released in theaters on October 20, 2017, bringing in $26.3 million at the box office. Only the Brave is a biopic focused on the Granite Mountain Hotshots, honoring the skilled firefighters who lost their lives — 19 out of 20 members died — trying to stop the Yarnell Hill Fire in June 2013. The movie was directed by Top Gun: Maverick's Joseph Kosinski. Brolin plays Eric Marsh, the leader of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, in the movie.

Only the Brave is not available to stream on HBO Max in the United States, where the drama can be watched on Prime Video and Tubi, according to JustWatch; The 2017 drama leaves behind movies like Men in Black, Se7en, Zodiac, Supergirl, and more on HBO Max's global charts. The only movies on the streaming service to rank higher than Brolin's intense film are the survival horror Hunter Hunter, the iconic comedy Superbad, and the frightening Evil Dead Burn. According to FlixPatrol, Only the Brave is currently trending on HBO Max in 12 countries. In the US, HBO Max's most-watched movie is Sydney Sweeney's The Housemaid.

Brolin Already Has The Ultimate Survival Thriller Replacement

Only the Brave's renewed streaming success on HBO Max internationally comes at the perfect time for Brolin, as the actor has got a new survival thriller in theaters, so viewers can seamlessly transition from the 2017 survival biopic to the actor's new movie. That would be Whalefall, the 2026 survival thriller that stars Resident Evil's Austin Abrams as Jay Gardiner, a college student who is accidentally swallowed by a sperm whale and must find to survive from within the animal. Brolin gives life to Mitt Gardiner, Jay's father. Only the Brave's HBO Max resurgence leads into Whalefall, which arrived in theaters on Friday, October 16.