Since the start of his illustrious career Denzel Washington movies have been dominating the box office and his latest film The Equalizer  has followed suit. The Sony producers and the legendary actor pulled in $35 million on their debut of the The Equalizer, leaving all other new releases in the dust.

According to InsideMovies The Boxtrolls collected $17.25 million, The Maze Runner $17.5 million and the star studded adult dramedy titled This Is Where I Leave You  pulled $7 million in its second week. Dolphin Tale 2 reportedly grossed $4.8 million in its first week rounding out the top five films of the weekend with The Equalizer doubling its nearest counterpart.

“We’re really, really happy, but we were very bullish on the movie,” commented Rory Bruer, Sony’s President of Worldwide Distribution. “It’s a film that we all love and it just delivers in a big way. Denzel couldn’t be more terrific in the role – you can’t take your eyes off this guy.”

With the apparent success of the movie, director Antoine Fuqua had his best opening to date, while ranking third for Washington’s best debut. Washington’s success in his lone wolf roles are truly a testament to his acting abilities and its verification and admiration from moviegoers.

Reviews were decidedly not very good and critical of the somewhat cheesy or unoriginal plot, but audiences still revered the film and Washington’s performance. Women too admired Washington on his dangerous role; females made up on average 48 percent of the audiences. The Equalizer performed admirably in its IMAX release as well, playing on 352 domestic screens and raking in a global IMAX grossing of $5 million.