Low end forecasts have Sony’s Denzel Washington starring, Antoine Fuqua-directed action threequel, The Equalizer 3 at $30M+ over 4-days.
Some box office sources even think the sequel, which was shot in Italy, has a shot at $40M and that’s because of The Equalizer 3‘s big first choice numbers with guys over 25. Even Women over 25 is solid. The one pause is that the nine-year-old franchise’s audience is getting older, and that demo as we all know has a gradual pace to cinemas.
There are no other wide releases over Labor Day weekend, and National Cinema Day when tickets are $4 is happening on Aug. 27, not over the four day holiday weekend like last year. Sony has Gran Turismo officially opening wide on Aug. 25, despite the fact that it’s been holding previews since last week.
The Equalizer at the end of September 2014 opened to $34.1M and finaled at $101.5M domestic. The Equalizer 2 back in July 2018 debuted to $36M and ended its U.S./Canada run at $102M. In Washington’s 40-year acting career, The Equalizer reps his only franchise film series.
Richard Wenk wrote the screenplay for the threequel. The Equalizer is inspired by the CBS 1980s TV series created by Michael Sloan and Richard Lindheim.
The Escape Artists Production follows Washington’s Robert McCall at home in Southern Italy, but he discovers his friends are under the control of local crime bosses. As events turn deadly, McCall knows what he has to do: become his friends’ protector by taking on the mafia.