Star Turn

Denzel’s ‘The Equalizer’ Tops Box Office

In Washington’s third-biggest opening.

Denzel Washington shot to the top of the weekend box office with his new flick, The Equalizer, racking up $35 million in ticket sales. It was the third-biggest opening in the career of the durable A-Lister. The movie is a loose adaptation of the 1980s’ CBS television show starring the late British actor Edward Woodward as a middle-aged retired intelligence officer who helps people in trouble. Forbes magazine called the movie “an unapologetic star vehicle for one of the few old-school movie stars who still gets to make pure star vehicles.” The film was directed by Antoine Fuqua, who also helmed Training Day, the crime thriller that earned Washington his Best Actor Oscar.