1. The Equalizer 3 (review)– $34.5M
People love to watch Denzel Washington murdering people. The Equalizer 3 cleaned up at the box office in its debut weekend with $34.5M over three days, and an estimated $42M across the four-day holiday, the second best ever for Labor Day weekend. Overall, the film has $68M worldwide. This franchise has been remarkably consistent over the years. The first movie in 2014 opened with $34M on its way to a $192M run. The 2018 sequel launched with $36M on the way to $190M. It seems the same trajectory is in store now. The Washington/Fuqua connection has been successful largely due to the R-rating and maturer themes, rather than trying to target a PG-13 audience.
2. Barbie– $10.6M/$609.5M
Greta Gerwig’s Barbie continues to shatter records, and now has surpassed The Super Mario Bros Movie as the film’s highest-grossing movie with $1.36B.
3. Blue Beetle– $7.2M/$56.5M
After three weeks, Blue Beetle finally has crossed the $100M mark. A sad tally for a film that has generally received good reviews, but the brand is really tainted right now. It’ll be tough for anyone to break it.
4. Gran Turismo– $6.5M/$28.6M
After a single week at the top, Gran Turismo fell 62% and only brought in $6.5M. While the domestic total of $28M is still disappointing, globally it’s doing considerably better and has $80M.
5. Oppenheimer– $5.5M/$308.5M
6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem– $4.7M/$106.4M
7. Bottoms (review)– $3M/$3.7M
Leaping into the top 10this week is the raunchy queer comedy Bottoms. Starring The Bear breakout Ayo Edibiri and Shiva Baby‘s Rachel Sennott, the sex comedy with shades of Fight Club expanded into over 700 theaters in its second week.
8. Meg 2: The Trench– $2.9M/$78.4M
9. Strays– $2.5M/$20.7M
10. Talk to Me– $1.7M/$44.1M
There’s a new champion over at A24! Talk to Me has supplanted Ari Aster’s Hereditary as their top-grossing horror film. Given the studio’s knack for finding buzzy titles that exceed expetations, this is quite an accomplishment and justifies the move towards a sequel.