The Big Picture
- Sony’s The Equalizer 3 surpasses $150 million at the global box office, potentially making it the highest-grossing film in the trilogy.
- The Equalizer movies have given Denzel Washington a new lease on his career as an action star, similar to Liam Neeson’s Taken trilogy.
- The Equalizer 3 provided hope in a disappointing September for the movie industry.
Sony’s The Equalizer 3 came out all guns blazing over the Labor Day weekend, and has been able to deliver the goods during a rather rough phase at the box office. On its 27th day in theaters across the world, the action film passed the $150 million mark at the global box office, putting it closer to its two predecessors, which incidentally concluded their domestic and worldwide runs with near-identical totals.
This means that a million dollars here or there could either make The Equalizer 3 the highest-grossing movie of the trilogy, or the lowest-grossing one. As things stand, the film has earned around $83 million domestically, and another $67 million from overseas markets, for a global total of just over $150 million. The film’s biggest foreign markets are the U.K. ($9 million), Australia ($5.5 million), Spain ($4 million), The Netherlands ($2.6 million) and Italy ($1.9 million). The Equalizer 3 experienced a bit of a stumble in its second weekend, but has since been able to stablize itself.
By comparison, 2014’s The Equalizer grossed $101 million domestically and $192 million worldwide, while The Equalizer 2, released four years later, concluded its domestic run with $102 million, and grossed $191 million globally. Each of the three films in the series has been directed by Antoine Fuqua and stars Denzel Washington; the duo most famously collaborated on 2001’s Training Day, which earned Washington his second acting Oscar.
The Movie Provided Some Hope in a Disappointing September
The Equalizer movies, which are loosely based on the ‘80s television series of the same name, established Washington as an older action star after a career dominated mostly by dramatic roles. It’s similar to how the Taken trilogy gave Liam Neeson’s career a new lease on life in the late 2000s. Over the past decade or so, Washington has quietly proven himself to be among the last remaining American movie stars; someone who is capable of opening a film despite not being allowed to promote it. The Equalizer 3 was released amid the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, during which talent was forbidden from engaging in promotional activities.
The period caused millions in losses for studios and artists, and also resulted in the delays of several high-profile fall releases. Overall, the month of September was a noticeable let-down from the record highs of the summer movie season, but The Equalizer 3 and The Nun II kept the ticket counters ringing. This weekend will see the release of another franchise sequel, Saw X, which is expected to duke it out for the top spot with the original science-fiction film The Creator. Earning the best reviews of the trilogy and a rave from Collider’s Nate Richard, The Equalizer 3 also stars Dakota Fanning, David Denman, Sonia Ammar, and Remo Girone in supporting roles.
