While on the press trail for Gladiator II, Denzel Washington has revealed he’s signed up for The Equalizer 4 and Equalizer 5.
Denzel Washington’s time as Robert McCall, also known as The Equalizer, has seen the actor and the trilogy of films he stars in buck several trends. Firstly, they’re sequels, something that as a rule, Washington doesn’t return to do. Yes, we know he’s tearing up the scenery in Gladiator II right now, but that doesn’t really count as the actor isn’t a returning part of that series.
For The Equalizer though, Washington has broken that rule, returning to work with director Antoine Fuqua two more times. The films have also proved to be rock solid at the global box office, bucking the trend of sequels earning less than their predecessors. All three instalments of The Equalizer have made almost exactly the same theatrically: $190m or so before going on to do good business on home formats release and streaming.
Washington has now revealed that he will be making The Equalizer 4 and 5, and it’s the series’ consistent box office performance that seems to have persuaded him that appetite for the return of Robert McCall is in no way diminishing.
Speaking with Esquire, the actor said, “I told them I would do another Equalizer, and we’re doing four and five. More people are happy about that – people love those daggone Equalizers. But I’ve come to realise that the Equalizer films are for me, too, because they’re for the people. They want me to go get the bad guys. ‘We can’t get them, so you go get them.’ And I say, ‘Okay, I’ll get them! Just wait right there. I’ll be right back!’”
Washington’s not wrong either: while those box office numbers may speak to it, the true proof is the films themselves. The combination of Washington’s charm and movie star persona, bad guys getting what’s coming to them and Fuqua’s thrilling direction of action sequences has proved to be a winning combination in every instalment.
Washington will next be appearing in Spike Lee’s High And Low, a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 crime thriller. We’ll bring you more on The Equalizer sequels as we hear it.
