The Equalizer 3 Box Office Cements It As One Of The Most Consistent Franchises Ever
Labor Day weekend has come and gone, meaning that the summer moviegoing season is essentially over. Now we're onto fall, which is far less certain for theaters in terms of financial prospects, as a mixed bag of releases are on the way in the coming months. But for right now, they get to thank Denzel Washington for ending the summer on a high note, as "The Equalizer 3" debuted with a solid opening weekend. So much so that the series now ranks as one of the most consistent franchises of all time, financially speaking.
Director Antoine Fuqua's "The Equalizer 3" opened to $34.6 million over the weekend, easily giving it the number one spot on the charts, per The Numbers. When accounting for the Monday holiday, the film earned $42.7 million, which actually makes it the second-biggest Labor Day opening ever behind only Marvel's "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" ($94.6 million) from 2021. That's pretty good company to be in. The movie also took in $26.1 million overseas, which gave it a $68.8 million global debut.
What's most impressive, though, is that The Numbers points out that, when it comes to franchises with at least three entries, "The Equalizer" now stands as the most consistent franchise ever in terms of opening weekend box office. Domestically, 2014's "The Equalizer" opened to $34.1 million, while 2018's "The Equalizer 2" debuted to $36 million. The third installment ended up falling right between the first two. The lack of variation from sequel to sequel is downright remarkable.
Granted, there are franchises such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe or James Bond that have more entries over a longer timeline. But for a trilogy, what this franchise has done is pretty impressive.
Denzel Washington doesn't miss
A franchise like "John Wick" has seen each entry make more than the last, with this year's "John Wick: Chapter 4" taking in $426 million worldwide and pushing the franchise past the $1 billion mark. But what we're talking about here is consistency. These "Equalizer" movies, across nearly a decade, have had a consistent audience that has shown up each time Washington suited up as Robert McCall. Case in point: The worldwide total for "The Equalizer" was $192.9 million, while the sequel finished its run with $190.3 million. With the opening weekend numbers, the third installment figures to finish in the same ballpark. That's consistency, folks.
Luckily, Sony Pictures has managed to keep the budgets similar as well. The first film cost $55 million to produce, while both the second and third installments cost a reported $70 million. It's incredibly rare to see numbers this homogenous across the board. It's impressive and speaks volumes about Washington's standing with moviegoers. People absolutely love to see him kicking ass. The prevailing wisdom is that this movie will end this iteration of the franchise, though Fuqua seems open to returning if Washington is as well.
Money talks, and Sony has made money every time one of these movies hit theaters. What's particularly remarkable this time around is that CBS has had an "Equalizer" TV show on the air for several years starring Queen Latifah. The fact that audiences resoundingly said they still wanted to see this specific iteration of the franchise suggests that if Sony can find a way to make a fourth movie, you can bet your ass they will do precisely that. Consistent winners are tough to find in this business, and this is as steady as it gets.
"The Equalizer 3" is in theaters now.