Denzel Hits Big At the Box Office with 2-Gunz

Ivan Nikolov/WENN.com

The weekend started off as a winner for Denzel Washington, Mark Wahlberg, Paula Patton, and the rest of the cast of the new action movie 2 Guns. The movie opened Friday to $10 million at the box office at 3,025 theaters. The movie went on to earn $27.4 million for the weekend in the US and Canada, beating outlast week’s box office winner The Wolverine ($21.7 million), The Smurfs 2 ($18.2 million), and the mid-budget horror film The Conjuring ($13.7 million), which has already far exceeded expectations.

“From Icelandic director Baltasar Kormakur, ’2 Guns’ was fueled by an ethnically diverse audience, with African-Americans making up 28 percent of the audience and Hispanics, 14 percent,” NBC News reports. For Mark Wahlberg, it’s a much-needed hit after Pain & Gain and Broken City, two other films he starred in this year, failed to do well at the box office.

And The Smurfs are hoping for greener (bluer?) pastures overseas, where the first film did really well.

For Denzel, it’s just another success to add to the list. Entertainment Weekly, notes that all of Washington’s last six movies opened with more than $20 million at the box office. Still, the company behind the film, Universal, only predicted a $20 million opening for the movie. They should know not to underestimate the power of Denzel.