Thursday, May 21, 2026

Denzel Snatches Victory from Jaws of Defeat! “Equalizer” Sequel Upsets “Mamma Mia” Sequel for the Win!

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Denzel Washington and Antoine Fuqua Jr. came from behind today and took the weekend from Cher, Meryl Streep, and ABBA.

“The Equalizer 2” was the surprise weekend winner over “Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again.” Nicely done for Denzel, he beat the ABBA musical $35.8 to $34.3 million. All week the good money was on “Mamma Mia” right through Friday night. But “Mamma Mia” had a little more fall off than expected on Saturday and Sunday.

The top six movies this weekend were sequels, by the way. Yawn!

Many indie films did great including “Sorry to  Bother You,” “Blindspotting,” “Leave No Trace,” and “RBG.” But the Whitney Houston doc took a big fall, from number 17 to 28. Roadkill Attractions pulled it from 291 theaters in its third week, ensuring its early death. Too bad. But it’s too to get into name calling again just yet.

Meantime the Beatles’ 50th anniversary edition of “Yellow Submarine” is up to $683,000 in its third week.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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