The Equalizer 3 Leads Updated Labor Day Weekend Box Office

'Equalizer 3' wins the Labor Day Weekend box office in the latest updated reports.

By Kofi Outlaw

The Equalizer 3 is the undisputed box office champion of Labor Day Weekend 2023 – and some updated figures prove it. 

According to some updated reports, Equalizer 3 is still on track for a $42 million four-day opening to win the weekend. That would make it the second-best Labor Day Weekend opening behind Marvel's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which earned a massive $94.6M in 2021. 

The Equalizer franchise has almost single-handedly proven that Denzel Washington is one of Hollywood's remaining box-office bankable stars. Equalizer 3 still drawing crowds is made even more impressive in the context of the SAG-AFTRA Strike, as promoting awareness of new film releases and/or TV show premieres has become twice as difficult. That clearly hasn't stopped fans of Washington from knowing that he has a new movie out and showing up in droves to see it. It also doesn't hurt that The Equalizer has become a reliable action franchise for audiences to invest in; the first Equalizer (2014) made $192.3M on a budget of $60-75M; Equalizer 2 hit many of the same margins, earning $190.4M on a budget of $60-80M. The core hook of the franchise is both Denzel Washington's performance as Robert McCall and the Rube Goldberg Machine sequences of McCall brutally dispatching his foes with mechanical precision; both are easy bets for audiences to invest in, as they still seem to be doing. 

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(Photo: Columbia Pictures)

Equalizer 3 seems to be both earning well at the box office and pleasing critics and fans alike. In one review, CNN's Brian Lowry writes that "Although the comparison doesn't set the bar terribly high, The Equalizer 3 might be the best in this Denzel Washington film series, not by honoring its TV roots but rather embracing an old western formula – specifically, Shane. The "final chapter" thus carries a bit more dramatic heft, while still offering plenty of, um, equalizing to satisfy those hungry for it." 

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The only question now seems to be: will a trilogy really be enough for The Equalizer? 

Synopsis: Since giving up his life as a government assassin, Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) has struggled to reconcile the horrific things he's done in the past and finds a strange solace in serving justice on behalf of the oppressed. Finding himself surprisingly at home in Southern Italy, he discovers his new 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.

Equalizer 3 is now in theaters. A TV series adaptation starring Queen Latifah is now streaming on Paramount+. 

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