Denzel Washington and Antoine Fuqua make a dynamite duo. Their first collaboration gave audiences arguably Denzel’s most popular character in Training Day. The director/actor combo also reunited to remake one of the most coveted westerns, The Magnificent Seven, and saw a nice, humble success. Now, they close out their trilogy on the big screen adaptation of The Equalizer.
Deadline reports that The Equalizer 3 begins the fall movie season with Thursday preview advanced screenings grossing $3.8 million. It topped the previous entry’s preview total, which came out to $3.1 million at 2,934 theaters from Thursday showtimes that began at 4 PM back in 2018. Equalizer 3 would begin its screening at 3,241 locations at 3 PM. The series has been a crowd-pleaser. This one looks to be following suit as it reached a Rotten Tomatoes aggregate rating of 76%, and the audience rating climbed much higher to 92%.
Equalizer 3 also has the benefit of being presented at IMAX screens as well as other premium large-format theaters, which should give it an edge against the competition. Additionally, the movie comes out on a holiday weekend, where Labor Day will give audiences an extra day to unwind at a movie, presumably to see the latest release. And the combo of Denzel and action is a perfect escape from reality. The trilogy closer is on track to bring in $30 million – $40 million for a 4-day opening weekend. It is estimated to be the second-best Labor Day opening behind Marvel Studio’s Shang Chi, which had brought in $94.6 million in its weekend.
Our own Chris Bumbray had a blast with the film, as detailed in his review where he states, “It seems no one is making straight-forward action thrillers nowadays other than Antoine Fuqua, who’s become the greatest master of the genre since the late Tony Scott. His movies are taut, efficient and packed with gruesome, R-rated action. They know precisely what they are, and if this is the final Equalizer film, it perfectly closes out the only big-screen trilogy of Denzel Washington’s career.”