In the battle of two very different sequels at the North American box office this weekend, Denzel Washington’s action pic The Equalizer 2 has narrowly won out over the Abba jukebox musical Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.
Studios on Sunday estimate that the R-rated Denzel Washington joint grossed $35.8 million (Dh131.4 million) from North American theatres over the weekend. It’s Washington’s first sequel and the biggest opening of director Antoine Fuqua’s career. The first Equalizer, from 2014, opened similarly and went on to earn more than $190 million worldwide.
Second place went to Universal Pictures’ Mamma Mia 2 — currently showing in the UAE — which took in $34.4 million, a sum that was driven by an audience that was 83 per cent female and 64 per cent over the age of 25. The film brought back much of the original cast, like Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried and Pierce Brosnan, and added Cher, Andy Garcia and Lily James to the mix. Critics overall gave the sequel better marks than the first, which still went on to gross over $600 million worldwide 10 years ago.
“We consider this a terrific opening,” said Jim Orr, Universal’s president of North American distribution. “And knowing the audience for these types of films, we are going to have a very healthy run at the domestic and worldwide box office. This is a very fun, very uplifting movie that people need right now.”
Equalizer 2 releases in the UAE on August 16.
