Weekend Box Office Report: September 26-28, 2014

The Equalizer shoots to the top!

Denzel Washington returned to theaters with a vengeance this weekend as THE EQUALIZER gunned its way to #1 at the box office with an estimated $35 million!

Based on the 80s TV series about an ex-spy turned vigilante, the R-rated action-thriller reunited Washington with his TRAINING DAY director Antoine Fuqua. THE EQUALIZER's opening weekend was a career best for the director (beating OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN's $30.3 million debut last year), and landed between THE BOOK OF ELI ($32.7 million) and SAFE HOUSE ($40.1 million) for the acclaimed actor.

Critics gave the violent street justice a 59% average on Rotten Tomatoes, and paying audiences cheered the stylish brutality with an 'A-' CinemaScore. Given the movie's strong opening performance (on a reported $55 million reported cost) and reception from moviegoers, we might end up seeing Washington equalizing again in the future.

The latest young-adult release THE MAZE RUNNER jogged to second with another $17.5 million, a 46% drop from its opening. It's already trotted past the $100 million mark worldwide (on a $34 million cost), so it's not surprising that the adaptation of THE SCORCH TRIALS, the second book in the post-apocalyptic series, is already in the works.

The new stop-motion animated family movie THE BOXTROLLS opened in third with $17.2 million. That's a decent opening for the tireless team at animation studio Laika, whose CORALINE opened to $16.8 million and PARANORMAN started with $14 million (they also worked on Tim Burton's CORPSE BRIDE, which opened with $19.1 million). Critics gave their encounter with the subterranean beings a 71% average on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 'B+' CinemaScore from crowds.

The R-rated comedy THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU slipped a notch to fourth place with $7 million, down 39% from its opening last weekend. DOLPHIN TALE 2 and NO GOOD DEED followed in fifth and sixth, with the family movie treading water while the home-invasion thriller went by.

Liam Neeson's latest A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES is already headed to the mortuary as it withered from #2 all the way down to seventh with $4.2 million in its second weekend, a 66% dive from its opening. Fortunately the actor and his particular set of skills will be back in January for an expected hit with TAK3N (the real title).

In eighth place, Marvel's GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY kept on trekking with $3.7 million. James Gunn's intergalactic misfits have now passed IRON MAN's $318.4 million finish to become the third-highest domestic total in Marvel's cinematic universe, and the movie is just a few bucks short of the $644.8 million worldwide total of THOR: THE DARK WORLD.

LET'S BE COPS and TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES closed out the list, while THE DROP and IF I STAY fell off the chart.

Next weekend brings director David Fincher's anticipated adaptation of best-seller GONE GIRL, the creepy doll from THE CONJURING stirs up terror in ANNABELLE, Nicolas Cage experiences the Rapture in LEFT BEHIND, and Reese Witherspoon stars in the limited-release drama THE GOOD LIE.

What October release are you most interested in seeing? VOTE HERE!