Denzel's "The Equalizer" Destroys Box Office Competition

[JamesG]

Weekend Report: The Equalizer Scores Fourth-Highest September Debut Ever
by Ray Subers
September 28, 2014


Featuring superstar Denzel Washington operating well within his wheelhouse, R-rated action movie The Equalizer had one of the biggest September openings ever this weekend.

Meanwhile, The Boxtrolls had an above-average debut for a stop-motion animated movie, though it still wound up slightly behind The Maze Runner's second weekend.







Playing at 3,236 theaters, The Equalizer opened to an estimated $35 million this weekend. That ranks fourth all-time in September behind Hotel Transylvania, Insidious Chapter 2 and Sweet Home Alabama.

Among Denzel's movies, The Equalizer's debut ranks third behind American Gangster and Safe House.



Lots of factors contributed to this strong debut — a well-managed marketing effort, outreach to Eminem's massive fanbase, etc. — though the real key to the movie's success is the name above the title.

Denzel Washington is one of the few bonafide movie stars at the domestic box office; excluding The Great Debaters (in which he played a supporting role), The Equalizer is the 12th-straight Denzel movie to open north of $20 million. Ten of those 12 are rated R, which makes this accomplishment even more impressive.



As a retired intelligence officer exacting vengeance on some Russian gangsters, Denzel's role in The Equalizer fit perfectly in to the butt-kicking brand he's been cultivating over the past decade.

His legion of fans rushed out to see the movie, and seem to be generally pleased with the results: the movie garnered an "A-" CinemaScore, which suggests good word-of-mouth.



The movie's audience was split evenly between men (52 percent) and women, and skewed older (65 percent over the age of 30). Add in the positive responses the movie has been receiving, and this will almost certainly play well in the coming weeks.

A final tally north of $100 million is likely.







In second place, The Maze Runner added $17.5 million for a 10-day total of $58 million. That's a 46 percent drop from opening weekend, which is fairly strong for the young-adult genre; in comparison, Divergent fell 53 percent earlier this year.

Based on this weekend's results, The Maze Runner now appears on track for $95 to $105 million total.







Opening at 3,464 theaters, The Boxtrolls scored $17.25 million this weekend. That's above past Laika Animation titles Coraline ($16.8 million) and ParaNorman ($14.1 million). In fact, it's the biggest opening for a stop-motion animation movie since Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, which set the genre's record nine years ago.

Chalk this solid start up to Laika's strong reputation and a pervasive marketing effort from Focus Features.



The movie received a "B+" CinemaScore from an audience that skewed female (57 percent).

Ultimately, The Boxtrolls could earn over $60 million total.







This is Where I Leave You eased 39 percent to an estimated $7 million. Through 10 days, the movie has banked $22.6 million.

Rounding out the Top Five, Dolphin Tale 2 fell 46 percent to $4.8 million. It's now earned $33.7 million, which is over $15 million behind the first Dolphin Tale's pace.







In seventh place, A Walk Among the Tombstones plummeted 67 percent to $4.2 million this weekend. This rough drop can be attributed to tough competition from The Equalizer, along with mixed word-of-mouth coming off opening weekend.

To date, Tombstones has earned $20.9 million, and could fall short of $30 million total.







Guardians of the Galaxy has now earned $319.2 million at the domestic box office.

On Sunday, it passed the first Iron Man movie to move up to third place in the MARVEL Cinematic Universe (behind The Avengers and Iron Man 3).







The Skeleton Twins expanded to 385 theaters and grossed $1.26 million this weekend.

So far, the Bill Hader/Kristen Wiig drama has grossed $2.35 million.







In limited release, Pride opened to $84,800 from six theaters. That translates in to a decent $14,133 per-theater average.

The well-reviewed movie will expand in to more cities on October 10th.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3913&p=.htm









September 26-28, 2014 Weekend Studio Estimates:


1. The Equalizer $35,000,000
2. The Maze Runner $17,500,000 / $58,018,000
3. The Boxtrolls $17,250,000
4. This is Where I Leave You $7,010,000 / $22,557,000
5. Dolphin Tale 2 $4,835,000 / $33,665,000
6. No Good Deed $4,600,000 / $46,623,000
7. A Walk Among the Tombstones $4,234,000 / $20,871,000
8. Guardians of the Galaxy $3,789,000 / $319,192,000
9. Let's Be Cops $1,515,000 / $79,628,000
10. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles $1,450,000 / $187,182,000

[Mace Dolex]

The 80's crime drama series is remembered for its awesome actor Edward Woodward and kickass theme music but I seriously saw the trailer for this and thought it was a turd, must have been a slow week.

Denzel thanks his fans for making him another 20 million into his bank account.

[isiahthomas]

The Equalizer is a very good movie and I wanna buy it when it comes out on video. Good acting by Denzel Washington and Chloe Morentz. Good directing by Antoine Fuqua who directed Denzel in Training Day which is also a very good movie that Denzel won a Oscar for.