Why was anyone surprised that "The Equalizer" was a solid hit, opening at an estimated $35.0 million?
Tracking suggested that the Denzel Washington movie would open only in the high 20s; after all, it's a movie based on a second-tier 1980s TV action drama that no one under 50 remembers fondly, and it's competing in the marketplace with Liam Neeson's similar "A Walk Among the Tombstones."
Nonetheless, "The Equalizer" pulled off the fourth largest September opening ever and marked the 12th straight $20-million-plus opening for a Washington wide-release movie, a track record stretching back a decade.
Clearly, Washington remains, at 59, one of Hollywood's most reliable box office draws. (And like fellow AARP-aged action hero Neeson, Washington shows no sign of slowing down.)
What is he doing right? What does he have that others don't? Here are a few things.
Consistency. The world-weary, vengeful man-of-action role that Washington plays in "Equalizer" may seem awfully familiar to those who've seen him in "2 Guns," "Safe House," "The Book of Eli," and many other films. But if it ain't broke, why fix it?
Selectivity. A corollary is that Washington tends to pick projects well-suited to his persona. He also likes to work with the same directors over and over, those who best know how to bring forth his latent intensity. (He made five films with Tony Scott, four with Spike Lee, three with Ed Zwick, and two each with Jonathan Demme, Carl Franklin, and now, "Training Day" and "Equalizer" director Antoine Fuqua.) And for all their superficial similarity, the movies he's picked remain unique; not one has spawned a sequel -- though "Equalizer" looks like it will be the first to do so, marking the first time in his 33-year film career that Washington has played a character more than once.
Volatility. Washington seldom plays against type, which makes those rare occasions when he does so all the more shocking and exciting. (See "Training Day," "American Gangster," and "Flight.") But even in his quiet, heroic roles, there's always a hint of menace below the surface, of repressed rage waiting to explode. Washington seethes as well as anyone in movies, but it's when he unleashes that wolfish grin that you know someone else is in trouble.
Craftsmanship. "Equalizer" and other Washington action thrillers may be B-movies writ large, but that doesn't mean he doesn't devote his full talent to each one. He brings such earnest, righteous anger to each one that you'd think he was doing an Arthur Miller play, not a Hollywood shoot-'em-up.
Charisma. Washington enjoys near universal appeal. As the audience breakdown for "Equalizer" has shown, he attracts male and female ticketbuyers in equal numbers. He also does well overseas (he and Will Smith having long since put to rest the dubious Hollywood conventional wisdom that foreign audiences don't care for black actors). Remarkably, only four of Washington's movies have earned more than $100 million in North American theaters ("Safe House," "American Gangster," "Remember the Titans," and "The Pelican Brief"), but he has 19 nine-figure movies if you add in foreign box office.
Prestige. Or, if you prefer, Talent. Washington has six Oscar nominations and two victories, so critics like him as much as regular audiences do. His name on a movie poster is a sign of quality, a sign that even his latest action thriller will be smarter and better-acted than most. He even landed "The Equalizer" a spot in this month's Toronto International Film Festival, which probably convinced many critics that the film was more prestigious than it actually is. And critical approval is still important to the older audience that comprises Washington's bread and butter (some 65 percent of "Equalizer" moviegoers were over 30).
Timing. Or, if you prefer, Luck. It didn't hurt "Equalizer" that it came out in September (usually a box office dead zone), that its only competition among new releases was family stop-motion animated feature "The Boxtrolls" (which opened at No. 3 with an estimated $17.3 million, about half the take of "Equalizer"), and that its only real competition at the multiplex was Neeson's week-old 'Tombstones," which plummeted five spots to No. 7 and grossed just an estimated $4.2 million, down 67 percent from its debut a week ago. So Washington has had the good fortune to open against movies that either don't compete directly against him or, if they do, are too weak to pose a serious threat.
Not everything Washington touches turns to gold. The small indie dramas that he's directed, "Antwone Fisher" and "The Great Debaters," may have been labors of love, but neither grossed more than $30.2 million worldwide. Still, in a mainstream thriller or drama, there's no more reliable sign of a crowd-pleaser than Washington's name on the marquee.
Gallery | Heroes of Dadcore: Ranking the Top 10 Aging Action Stars
- 10. Danny Glover
It's been 27 years since Glover (then 40, but playing 50) first said, "I'm getting too old for this s---," but he's continued to be a trooper, from "Lethal Weapon" and "Predator 2" to the present day. This fall, he and Danny Trejo will star in "Bad Asses." The trailer even features a possible new, more age-optimistic catchphrase for Glover: "Ain't no 20-year-old got reflexes like that."
- 9. Mel Gibson
Gibson will remain an action immortal as long as memories remain of his two game-changing franchise characters from the '80s and '90s: post-apocalyptic warrior Mad Max, and the "Lethal Weapon" series' loose-cannon cop Martin Riggs. Like Kevin Costner, Gibson proved adept as an action director, too, capable of placing himself as star within sweeping epic spectacles ("Braveheart"). His long hiatus from acting and his Riggs-like penchant for bringing the crazy in his personal life have hurt his fan base; when he returned to action fare with "Edge of Darkness" in 2010, not many showed up to welcome him back. A supporting role, however, might be just the thing for the 58-year-old, so it's a smart move for him to appear in the upcoming "Expendables 3."
- 8. Danny Trejo
Trejo was a tough-guy character actor in movies for decades before landing his first major leading role in an action movie at age 65, in Robert Rodriguez' "Machete." Alas, despite his deft wielding of the title weapon, a sequel, and even an age-appropriate catchphrase ("Machete don't text!"), Trejo has remained a cult figure at best. Maybe this fall's "Bad Asses," with fellow oldtimer Danny Glover, will push the 69-year-old to the next level.
- 7. Arnold Schwarzenegger
There was no bigger action star in the '80s and early '90s than the bodybuilder who parlayed his limited range into such emotionless bruisers as Conan the Barbarian and The Terminator. As he aged, he smartly turned to comedy and then politics, but now that his tenure as California's Governator is over, he's had a hard time picking up where he left off. No one here was really clamoring to see the 66-year-old in such tired action fare as "The Last Stand" or "Escape Plan" (with Sylvester Stallone), but maybe foreign audiences will be more forgiving. He'll be back in: the narco-thriller "Sabotage," coming March 28, to be followed by, yes, further Conan and Terminator adventures.
- 6. Kevin Costner
Costner graduated from gang warfare (1987's "The Untouchables") to tribal warfare (1990's "Dances With Wolves") and from saving Whitney Houston (1992's "The Bodyguard") to saving civilization ((1995's "Waterworld," 1997's "The Postman"). His luster has dimmed in recent years, but he's still a stalwart, Gary Cooper-type man of action. At 59, he continues to kick butt and take names in such spy thrillers as last month's "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit" and this week's "3 Days to Kill."
- 5. Harrison Ford
Ford was already well into his 30s when he landed his career-defining roles as Han Solo and Indiana Jones. He's no longer a box office draw, yet his roles remained surprisingly acrobatic well into his 60s (notably, in the most recent "Indiana Jones" movie, made when Ford was 65). These days, he's more likely to mentor younger action stars (in "Cowboys and Aliens" or "Ender's Game"), but the 71-year-old hasn't hung up his laser blaster yet, as he's due to return as Han Solo next year in "Star Wars: Episode VII."
- 4. Bruce Willis
It's easy to forget that for the first phase of his career, Willis was considered a light comic actor. Then came 1988's "Die Hard," which made him an Everyman action hero for the ages. Most of his heroic roles since have featured that same John McClane attitude, that "Can you believe this?" slight wink at the audience. Now 58, it's become, "Can you believe I'm still doing this?," in movies like the later "Die Hards," the two "RED" films, and, coming this summer, "A Dame to Kill For," a sequel to "Sin City."
- 3. Sylvester Stallone
Stallone wrote himself one of the greatest action roles of all time, perpetual underdog boxer Rocky Balboa, and embodied another (conscience-plagued mercenary John Rambo), managing to keep both franchises interesting long past their sell-by date. He was 64 when he managed to create yet a third franchise for himself with "The Expendables" (one that, not coincidentally, attracted audiences with its rotating ensemble cast of fellow vintage action stars). Despite such recent duds as "Bullet to the Head" and "Grudge Match" (essentially pitting an ancient Rocky against an equally ancient Robert De Niro/Jake LaMotta), it seems Stallone can keep churning out "Expendables" movies (the third one is due in August) as long as the 67-year-old's remarkable abs and biceps hold out.
- 2. Denzel Washington
It's hard to believe that Washington is already 59 years old. There's little sign of advanced age in the visage or frame of the star of "Unstoppable" and several other Tony Scott-directed action spectacles (including "Crimson Tide" and "Man on Fire"). He's often the wise or streetwise mentor when partnered with younger actors (Ethan Hawke in "Training Day," Chris Pine in "Unstoppable," Mark Wahlberg in "2 Guns"), but he still seems just as much at home doing action as he does reciting Shakespeare. He's still one of the most reliable box office draws in Hollywood, whether he's doing a film like the upcoming "The Equalizer" (an adaptation of the 1980s vigilante TV series, due in September) or playing the kind of straight dramatic role that could win him a third Oscar.
- 1. Liam Neeson
Unlike a lot of folks on this list, Neeson really can act, as he's proved over the decades in movies from "Schindler's List" to "Kinsey." Curiously, it was only when the former amateur boxer was well into his 50s that he became known as a thinking-person's action star, with movies like the "Taken" films, "Unknown" and "The Grey." After all, he still has the imposing height and physique to be a convincing butt-kicker, the years of experience to suggest thoughtfulness and wisdom, and the acting chops to sell grief, rage, and vengefulness. He's 61 years old, and he's hinted that he takes these two-fisted roles just for the money, but he still seems to be just hitting his stride, His latest, airborne thriller "Non-Stop," opens next week. Coming up: September's kidnapping thriller "A Walk Among the Tombstones" and a third "Taken."
- Honorable Mention: Clint Eastwood
At 83, Eastwood may not have any more action hero roles in his future, but he still kicked ass pretty impressively in "Gran Torino" when he was 78. Ian McKellen, age 74, still moves action figures off toy store shelves for two franchises, "X-Men" and "The Hobbit." Samuel L. Jackson, whose continued ferocity belies his age (65), remains credible in Marvel movies, Quentin Tarantino movies, and wherever else he wants to bark out 12-letter words. Dolph Lundgren, at 56, seems like he'll continue to have a career as long as Sylvester Stallone wants to put him in "Expendables" movies, though he's also given himself opportunities by turning to directing in recent years. Jean-Claude Van Damme's "Muscles from Brussels" heyday may be a decade or more behind him, but at 53, the acrobatic "Expendables" crew member has at least three movies due this year and may still have plenty of good years left. Same goes for Wesley Snipes, who, at 51, is the baby of the "Expendables 3" posse.
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