Denzel Washington has “once again proved he is one of the most bankable stars on the planet,” an industry analyst said, as his new movie “The Equalizer” opened as the number one film in North America.
An estimated $35 million in weekend box office sales was raked in for Sony. “The Equalizer’ opened as Washington’s third-highest achiever, behind only “American Gangster” ($43.6 million) and “Safe House” ($40.2 million), said Rentrak movie industry analyst Paul Dergarabedian.
Sony’s newest R-rated action flick easily bested last weekend’s top draw, “The Maze Runner,” which fell to second. It did $17.5 million in business this weekend, and which has $58 million in the till over 10 days.
“The Boxtrolls,” a stop-motion animation movie aimed at kids, opened in third place with $17.3 million in estimated weekend sales.
Rounding out the 10 most-popular movies in the U.S. and Canada this Friday-Saturday-Sunday period, as estimated by the studios and collated by Rentrak, were “This Is Where I Leave You” ($7 million), “Dolphin Tale 2” ($4.8 million), “No Good Deed” ($4.6 million), “A Walk Among Tombstones” ($4.2 million), “Guardians Of The Galaxy” ($3.8 million), “Let’s Be Cops” ($1.5 million) and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” ($1.5 million).
