The Equalizer successfully took over the top spot at the box office as it scored $35 million across 3,234 locations.
Denzel Washington’s gory action thriller, which cost $55 million to produce, follows the story of a former intelligence agent who battles against Russian gangsters to save a young girl (Chloe Grace Moretz). Audience members, who were 48 percent female and 35 percent under the age of 35, gave the film an A minus CinemaScore, along with positive reviews.
Sony’s action packed thriller ranks as Washington’s third best domestic opening of his career, following Safe House ($40.1 million) and American Gangster ($43.6 million). In addition, Equalizer ranks as the fourth biggest September debut of all time.
“I’m pretty confidant there will be a sequel,” said Rory Bruer, Sony Pictures president of worldwide distribution. “From the beginning, as the story began to unfold, it had possible franchise written all over it.”
The weekend’s other wide release was Focus Features’ The Boxtrolls, which catered to a completely different audience. The PG-rated film, created by Oregon-based creators of Paranorman and Coraline, centers on a young boy named Eggs who was raised by trolls, and features the voices of Ben Kingsley, Elle Fanning, Toni Collette, Simon Pegg and Tracy Morgan.
“We’ve got a really nice runway for this thing,” said Jim Orr, president of distribution at Focus Features. “This was the first animated title since July, and that helped, and it’s just a charming film.”
With a B plus CinemaScore, the stop-motion animated film beat all expectations from analysts, who previously estimated that the film would debut around $15 million to $16 million.
Coming in third place at the box office, Boxtrolls earned $17.3 million and nearly beat last week’s champion, The Maze Runner, which took in $17.5 million in its second weekend. The young adult thriller now ranks in second place, and has achieved a total of $58 million since its release.
Warner Bros.’ two titles, This Is Where I Leave You and Dolphin Tales 2, rank in fourth place with $7 million, and fifth place with $4.8 million, respectively.
Top 10 Films at Weekend Box Office: September 26-28
- The Equalizer – $35 million
- The Maze Runner – $17.5 million
- The Boxtrolls – $17.3 million
- This Is Where I Leave You – $7 million
- Dolphin Tale 2 – $4.8 million
- No Good Deed – $4.6 million
- A Walk Among the Tombstones – $4.2 million
- Guardians of the Galaxy – $3.8 million
- Let’s Be Cops – $1.5 million
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – $1.45 million
