"The Equalizer 3," Denzel Washington's third go as brooding assassin Robert McCall, debuted at the top of the US box office this weekend, raking in $34.5 million.
Globally, the film raked in $60.6 million, according to Comscore. Audiences have given it a 94% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
According to Variety, "The Equalizer 3" is the second-biggest Labor Day weekend opening, after Marvel's 2021 hit "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," which pulled in $75 million in its first three days.
CNN's Brian Lowry writes that the film earns its R rating "in about the first three minutes."
"'The Equalizer 3' might be the best in this Denzel Washington film series, not by honoring its TV roots but rather embracing an old western formula," he wrote.
It "possesses a certain sentimentality, aided in part by reuniting the star and Dakota Fanning almost 20 years after he killed a lot of people on her behalf in 'Man on Fire.'"
The No. 2 movie domestically this weekend was "Barbie," the fantasy-comedy that has spent the past six weeks smashing box-office records and becoming the top-grossing film of 2023. Globally, the Greta Gerwig film has topped $1.36 billion.
In its opening weekend starting July 21, "Barbie" raked in $155 million domestically — the largest opening weekend of the year and the biggest-ever debut for a female director. In the weeks to follow, it also was crowned Warner Bros.'s highest-grossing domestic release, beating the former title holder, the 2008 blockbuster, "The Dark Knight."
"Barbie" is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, which is owned by CNN's parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery.
