The Equalizer 3 Starts Production, First Look Cast Photos Revealed

Sony Pictures has taken to social media to confirm that filming is officially underway on The Equalizer 3. The new movie in the action-thriller franchise which will bring back Denzel Washington and feature director Antoine Fuqua once again behind the camera. Perhaps the most exciting thing for the threequel though is that actress Dakota Fanning, who previously appeared alongside Denzel in the 2004 movie Man on Fire, will reunite with the Academy Award winner for the new movie. Also confirmed to appear is Gaia Scodellaro, what role the two newcomers to the franchise will play has not been confirmed, but you can see the first photos below.

The new film in The Equalizer trilogy marks the first time ever that Denzel Washington has reprised a role for the third time, with The Equalizer 2 previously being the first sequel the actor ever participated in. Speaking in a previous interview with /Film Fuqua teased that the new movie will “Hopefully, reveal a little more about Robert (McCall). Yeah, I think that’s the key, to learn more about Robert McCall.” As confirmed in Sony’s announcement, Fuqua also teased that most of the film will be set against the backdrop of Italy and its small seaside villages.

When does The Equalizer 3 come out?

Sony Pictures previously scheduled a September 1, 2023 release date for The Equalizer 3, meaning the new film will arrive five years after The Equalizer 2. As of this writing there are currently no other movies set to arrive in theaters on that same date, though that could always change. Currently The Equalizer 3 is set to arrive just a couple of weeks after Blue Beetle and ahead of a few other sequels in September of 2023 including the new Conjuring Universe movie, The Nun 2, and Kenneth Branagh’s third Hercule Poirot film, A Haunting in Venice.

The two Equalizer movies previously had remarkable staying power at the box office, cementing Washington’s place as a major draw for audiences worldwide. When the first movie was released in 2014 it brought in over $101 million domestically and over $192 million globally, with the second film debuting four years later and actually managing a bigger US haul. The Equalizer 2 made over $102 million in the US and just over $190 million globally, a miniscule drop off in terms of sequels that proved there was real interest in the movies.

Will Queen Latifah appear in The Equalizer movies?

Despite sharing the same name and being based on the 1985 TV series, it seems incredibly unlikely that the current CBS revival of The Equalizer that stars Latifah will cross over with the feature films that star Washington. In large part this is because the two versions of the franchise are set up at different, competing, studios. CBS is the home for the TV series while Sony Pictures produce the movies.

“I am absolutely excited and love the fact that Denzel made this a relevant product again because I did watch the original series as a kid,” Latifah said last year during the Television Critics’ Association. “What Denzel did with the feature films has been incredible. If anything, he set a bar in a way but also gave us a lot of room to go a completely different direction.”