FX Productions has closed a two-year first-look production deal with Escape Artists, the independent production company of Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal and Steve Tisch. This marks the first TV deal for Escape Artists, founded in 2001 by Black, Blumenthal and Tisch, whose feature credits include The Weather Man, The Pur…

Final UPDATE, 3:30 PM: Final grosses have been updated for the following films: The Equalizer, The Maze Runner, The Boxtrolls, Annabelle, Lucy, Hercules, Into the Storm, Let’s Be Cops, The Drop, If I Stay, The Dwarf, Boyhood, Get On Up, Sex Tape, horror films The Purge: Anarchy and As Above/So Below, 22 Jump Street, El…

UPDATE, MONDAY, 1:44 PM: The Equalizer came in beneath Sony’s estimates, bringing in $34.1 million for the three-day weekend, easily running over the other newcomer, the animated The Boxtrolls. However, the Denzel Washington film is likely to get side-swiped next weekend by the David Fincher-directed mystery thriller G…

Denzel Washington-starrer The Equalizer opened to $1.45 million last night, suggesting it’ll be a good weekend for Sony. Deadline’s Pete Hammond gives his take on the pic, directed by Antoine…

Deadline’s Co-Editor in Chief and Film Editor discuss the merits of A Walk Among The Tombstones and The Equalizer. Mike Fleming says watching Liam Neeson and Denzel Washington blow away bad guys is like Christmas morning; Anita Busch is disgusted by the gratuitous violence. Whose side are you on? Related: 'The…

Sony and Denzel Washington’s The Equalizer opened on 2,693 runs last night starting at 7 PM and took in about $1.45M. The best comp for this one is probably 2 Guns, which grossed about $1.27M at 8 PM screenings and ended up at $27M for the weekend. Another comp to look at is Liam Neeson’s Non-Stop which — like the…

Sony and Denzel Washington hope The Equalizer is the beginning of a franchise for them and it could very well be while the stop-motion 3-D animated film The Boxtrolls is a welcome family film during what has been a bit of a dry spell of animated fare so the kids should gobble this one up. It’s going into a the second…

IM Global’s Stuart Ford has signed a deal to partner in projects with with Antoine Fuqua’s Fuqua Films. Fuqua and producing associate Kat Samick will come up with the projects. IM Global will provide the overhead and this gives Fuqua an opportunity to expand his reach, since most of these projects he will produce…

Tonight in Toronto, Denzel Washington and his Training Day director Antoine Fuqua will launch a new franchise, The Equalizer, a drama loosely based on the TV series. Thankfully for fans of Washington’s action work, the film is a closer spiritual cousin to Man On Fire, with Washington playing a righteous character who…

Denzel Washington may be a long way from Edward Woodward, but the just-released trailer for the upcoming film version of that 1980s series, showcases Washington’s usual chillier-than-the-Antarctic cool as he comes out of retirement as a black ops commando to rescue a young woman (Chloe Grace Moretz) and deal with…

EXCLUSIVE: Fox has attached The Equalizer helmer Antoine Fuqua to direct Narco Sub, the David Guggenheim-scripted thriller that has long been a priority project at the studio. It’s set in the dangerous world of drug smuggling, and the title refers to the semi-submersible crafts that South American drug cartels have…

EXCLUSIVE: The Denzel Washington-led reboot continues to pad its cast. Vladimir Kulich has joined Sony‘s The Equalizer, which also stars Martin Csokas, Melissa Leo and Chloe Moretz. The Vikings actor will play a Russian oligarch who funds an international black market enterprise. Washington stars as Robert McCall, a…