The Big Picture
- The Equalizer 3 received better reviews than the previous films in the franchise, showcasing Denzel Washington’s star-power.
- While the movie has not been as successful as its predecessors at the box office, it can still be considered a success.
- Alongside Washington, the movie stars Dakota Fanning, David Denman, Sonia Ammar, and Remo Girone.
It looks like Sony’s The Equalizer 3 isn’t going to be able to surpass its two predecessors at the box office after all, as it nears the end of its theatrical run and begins its life on home video. The third (and likely final) installment of the action series delivered a tremendous opening back in the first week of September, but wasn’t able to register strong enough holds over the next month.
This weekend — its sixth — the film generated around $1.8 million domestically, and it grossed around $6 million from international markets over the course of the last week. This takes The Equalizer 3’s running domestic total to $88 million, and its cumulative worldwide gross to $167 million. Because both previous entries in the trilogy delivered near-identical totals domestically and worldwide, the margins for bragging rights were wafer-thin for The Equalizer 3. Released in 2014, The Equalizer concluded its domestic run with $101 million, and grossed $192 million worldwide. Four years later, The Equalizer 2 grossed $102 million domestically and $191 million worldwide.
Loosely based on the television series from the 1980s, each film in the trilogy has been directed by Antoine Fuqua and stars Denzel Washington in the lead role of an ex-Marine vigilante. With only Mexico left to open this week, The Equalizer 3 has now either played or is currently playing in every major territory in the world. The film’s biggest foreign markets are the U.K. ($9 million), Australia ($6 million), Spain ($4.7 million), The Netherlands ($2.9 million) and Italy ($1.9 million).
The Trilogy Is Ending on a Positive Note
Even if it isn’t going to be able to end the franchise on a high, commercially speaking, at least everybody involved can take pride in the fact that The Equalizer 3 earned some of the best reviews of the series. The film currently sits at a “fresh” 75% score on the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, where the first film has a 61% approval rating and the second a 52% score. Budgets for each of the three movies are reportedly in the $55 million to $80 million range.
In addition to serving as a reminder of Washington’s significant star-power — the third installment debuted without him having promoted it — The Equalizer trilogy has also facilitated his rebirth as an older action star, similar to what the Taken films were able to do for Liam Neeson in the late 2000s and early 2010s. In fact, the Taken trilogy’s box office success probably enabled The Equalizer reboot as well. The third film also features Washington’s Man on Fire co-star Dakota Fanning, alongside David Denman, Sonia Ammar, and Remo Girone. Stay tune to Collider for more updates.
