Sony’s The Equalizer 3 has taken the top spot at the global box office with a spectacular opening weekend performance. Not only did the action film conclude at the top of the domestic box office, but it also generated a franchise-best total from international markets, resulting in a global debut of $60 million. The two preceding Equalizer films had earned $382 million worldwide. On Friday, The Equalizer 3 earned $13 million at the domestic box office, followed by $11 million on Saturday and an estimated $10 million on Sunday, for an estimated $34 million over three days.
The film is anticipated to earn approximately $42 million over the extended four-day Labor Day weekend, making it the second-best Labor Day opening ever, behind Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. This weekend, The Equalizer 3 grossed slightly more than $26 million internationally, which is 19% higher than the previous installment and 29% higher than the original in comparable markets at current exchange rates.
Each installment in the series has been directed by Antoine Fuqua and stars Denzel Washington as Robert McCall, a violent ex-Marine. The first film was released nearly a decade ago, in 2014, and grossed $101 million domestically and $192 million internationally. Four years later, The Equalizer 2 was released to nearly identical numbers: $102 million domestically and $190 million internationally.
Sony hopes that the third (and ostensibly final) installment will surpass $200 million worldwide for the first time in the series’ history. This weekend, Europe brought in $15.6 million, with the United Kingdom leading the way with $3.5 million over five days, followed by France ($2.8 million), Germany ($2.4 million), and Spain ($1.7 million). In the Asia-Pacific region, the movie made a total of $5.7 million, with Australia leading the way with $2.3 million and Indonesia coming in second with $1.1 million. In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia’s debut was worth $1.6 million.
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What will The Equalizer 3 be about?
Antoine Fuqua has not yet made a horror film, but with the conclusion of this violent trilogy, The Equalizer 3, he comes frighteningly close. These action films are comparable to slashers due to the inventive and gruesome murders perpetrated by an unrelenting murderer who refuses to die. In this case, however, the murderer is the savior, and he slaughters to protect innocents from exploitation and murder. Denzel Washington’s Robert McCall kills Russian mobsters, American mercenaries, and the Italian underworld with everything from a corkscrew to their own firearms. His victims are not virgins or co-eds.
Robert asks the question, “What do you see when you look at me?” in each Equalizer movie, but the series lacks moral ambiguity. Robert is portrayed as a decent character in the series, and everyone else is portrayed as either good or malevolent with no shades of gray. The only thought-provoking aspect of these films is guessing which commonplace object Robert will transform into a lethal weapon next, such as a wine container or a meat cleaver.
He does only evil things to bad people, or more specifically, to bad men. Robert never administers justice to a single female character over the course of three films, six hours, and numerous fatalities, which feels more than a little retrograde. In this man’s world of evil and good men, women exist only as homicide victims or damsels in distress with little agency, presumably incapable of the type of bad behavior Robert fights against. Complaining about gender representation in a film that is primarily concerned with violent combat scenes seems like a waste of mental energy. Fuqua has unsuccessfully attempted to turn these films into something other than a simple action franchise.
Yet, even now, three films into a morally simplistic franchise, Fuqua refuses to take a half-hearted approach, imbuing each scene with his gritty style and attention to visual details. Shots are meticulously composed, and he provides a welcome sense of place, whether it was Boston in the original film (and its confrontation in a home improvement store), a coastal Massachusetts community in the sequel, or an Italian village in The Equalizer 3.
Each location is distinct, as opposed to being an anonymous, featureless location that will become collateral damage in the battle between Robert McCall and whoever has earned his justified rage this time. Rather than what can occur when a random filmmaker simply captures all the strikes and gunfire in the frame and calls it a day, we should probably be grateful for action films that are made with this level of directorial craftsmanship. Yet it seems wasteful when this style is combined with a script that hints at a deeper meaning but misses the mark.
Watch the official Equalizer 3 trailer
When will ‘The Equalizer 3’ be on Netflix?
Netflix and Sony signed a large, comprehensive first-window agreement in April 2021.
Since 2022, all theatrically released Sony films, as well as a few Sony Pictures Classic films, have debuted on Netflix just a few months after their theatrical debut.
The majority of films are available on Netflix exactly 120 days after their initial release. If so, The Equalizer 3 will be available on Netflix on December 30, 2023, during the Christmas holiday.
However, some titles have been released a few days or weeks after the 120-day window. This means it may not occur until January 2024.
