The Equalizer 3’s Rotten Tomatoes Score Is the Best of the Series

Antoine Fuqua and Denzel Washington have returned to finish out their Equalizer trilogy. Equalizer 3 is now playing in theaters around the country, taking fans back into the world of Robert McCall. While fans have been excited to see the continuation of the series, they’ll be even happier to learn that this threequel is the highest-rated installment of the entire franchise. Equalizer 3 currently boasts a higher Rotten Tomatoes score than its two predecessors.

As of Thursday night, Equalizer 3 boasts a 76% “Fresh” rating on the review aggregate site, which is significantly better than both of the other movies. 2014’s The Equalizer has a score of 61%, while 2018’s Equalizer 2 has a 52%. So far, Equalizer 3 also has the highest audience score of the three films.

Equalizer 3 Aims to Win the Box Office

Those good reviews seem to be powering Equalizer 3 to a great holiday weekend at the box office, where it should be the top-earning film domestically.

The most recent projections believe Equalizer 3 will earn between $28 million and $30 million over the three-day weekend, while taking in a total of up to $40 million when you factor in Labor Day. That will be good enough for one of the better Labor Day box office openings in years.

Equalizer 3 and Man on Fire Connections

While the Equalizer franchise and Tony Scott’s Man on Fire aren’t actually connected, they do share the connective tissue that is Denzel Washington. Equalizer 3 brings Dakota Fanning into the franchise, reuniting with Washington after they both starred in Man on Fire back in 2004. While speaking to ComicBook.com’s Brandon Davis, director Antoine Fuqua explained that he sees Equalizer 3 as something of a spiritual successor to Tony Scott’s film.

“We never talked about it collectively, but I’ve thought about it that way,” Fuqua said. “You know when Dakota said she was interested I thought ‘Ah yeah! This is Man on Fire but years later – and this is what he’s doing,’ you know? But I never said that to them because they’re just in the characters [of Equalizer 3] in those moments. But when you see them together, man – when I saw them on set – it was just like… [holds hands up] just smiling – I was just like ‘Yeah…’ [laughing].” 

Equalizer 3 is now playing in theaters.