View Full Version : "The Equalizer 3" Opens at #1 during Labor Day Weekend


JamesG
09-05-2023, 03:25 AM
The Equalizer 3 Still On Track for $42M+ 4-Day Opening; Next Up The Nun 2 Eyes $30M+ Debut
by Anthony D'Alessandro
September 4, 2023


Pretty straight forward end of the summer with Sony/Eagle Pictures/TSG/Escape Artist’s The Equalizer 3 still on track for a $42M+ four-day opening, second best ever for the holiday after Shang-Chi ($94.6M).

No melodrama like last weekend when Sony was stuffing substantial advance previews into Friday and driving Warner Bros. crazy. Boy, that was fun. However, expect other studios to emulate a practice like that again, not that it was extremely novel.

Sony will have another Labor Day opening ranking record for the books next year when they finally debut their Venom-verse title, Kraven the Hunter, which was originally scheduled to debut this year during the first weekend of October.




While there will be business today for movies, it will fall off by around -30% from Sunday’s take for most movies. Sunday was pretty good with most movies seeing single digit percent spikes over Saturday or even results.

There seems to be a little fight for seventh place with MGM’s Bottoms and Warner Bros.’ The Meg 2, both claiming $3.65M.




Despite the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, and actors unable to promote, look for this box office rally to continue into next weekend with The Nun 2 which is eyeing a $30M-plus opening.

Warner Bros. typically has had a big horror film in the post Labor Day space the last being 2019’s It Chapter Two which debuted to $91M. They had James Wan’s Malignant in 2021, but the pic got lost at the box office as it was day-and-date in theaters and on HBO Max, opening to a paltry $5.4M and ending its run at $13.3M.

https://deadline.com/2023/09/box-office-equalizer-3-denzel-washington-1235533871/





September 1-4, 2023: Weekend Studio Estimates

1. The Equalizer 3 $42,250,000
2. Barbie $13,125,000 / $612,009,254
3. Blue Beetle $9,235,000 / $58,539,052
4. Gran Turismo $8,560,454 / $30,671,000
5. Oppenheimer $7,500,000 / $310,531,000
6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem $6,075,000 / $107,774,006
7. Bottoms $3,659,000 / $4,383,706
8. Meg 2: The Trench $3,650,000 / $79,132,000
9. Strays $3,240,000 / $21,451,225
10. Talk to Me $2,237,538 / $44,575,941