Summary The Equalizer 3 has had a massive opening, surpassing box office expectations and becoming the second-highest Labor Day weekend opening of all time.
The film’s success has helped the 2023 summer box office reach a milestone, crossing the $4 billion mark and surpassing the previous summer box office total by 19%.
The summer box office success of The Equalizer 3 and other films like Barbie is crucial for the recovery of the movie theater industry in a post-pandemic landscape.
The Equalizer 3’s massive opening lets 2023 break a major box office curse. Directed by Antoine Fuqua, The Equalizer 3 sees the return of Denzel Washington’s Robert McCall, as he is thrown into crime-fighting life once again as he takes on the Southern Italian mafia. The movie has far surpassed box office expectations with The Equalizer 3 becoming the second-highest Labor Day weekend opening of all time, behind only Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
The Equalizer 3 will help 2023 make a box office milestone, via The Hollywood Reporter. The film’s successful opening pushes the summer 2023 domestic box office over the $4 billion mark. The Equalizer 3 helped propel this milestone on Friday, and with the long weekend closing out, the summer box office total could come to $4.1 billion. Not only is this box office total 19% higher than that of summer 2023, but it is the first time post-pandemic that the summer box office has crossed $4 billion.
Why the 2023 Summer Box Office is So Vital for Hollywood
Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic closed theaters in March 2020, the film industry has been struggling to fill seats. While there have been notable exceptions, including 2022’s record-setting sequel Avatar: The Way of Water, theaters have struggled to reach the same kind of pre-pandemic peaks. With the 2023 summer box office still coming in 5.7% behind 2019’s domestic revenue, the theaters still have a ways to go.
Nonetheless, The Equalizer 3 has helped close this gap. The $4 billion+ total alone does not capture what 2023’s summer box office has done for Hollywood. This summer brought Barbenheimer, the simultaneous release of Barbie and Oppenheimer that took over IMAX and mainstream theaters alike and dominated weeks of the summer box office. Barbie in particular was notable in that it reportedly brought audiences back to the theaters that hadn’t been in years, boding well for the recovery of the movie theater in a post-pandemic landscape.
Like The Equalizer 3, Barbie also surpassed even generous expectations of what its opening box office would be. In the case of both films, industry pundits were cautiously optimistic but proven too conservative in their estimates as The Equalizer 3 and Barbie looked at record-breaking openings.
Source: THR