HOLLYWOOD—Hmm, I cannot recall the last time the box-office was such a nail bitter. I was certain, and I mean that with absolute certainty that Denzel Washington and his sequel, “The Equalizer 2” would win the box-office, but it was close. Washington who was last seen in the flick “Roman J. Israel, Esq.” did battle against Meryl Streep and Cher in the sequel “Mama Mia! Here We Go Again.” It was a battle alright, and Denzel and company were victorious, but by a very slight margin, to the tune of $1 million. “The Equalizer 2” debuted in the top spot with $35.8 million; numbers that were very close to its predecessor.

However, with a big time name like Washington, if this flick is not able to draw in the numbers, I’d make the argument, that the likelihood of seeing “The Equalizer 3” is slim. That might be dependent how the film performs this weekend when it goes to battle with Tom Cruise. Nabbing second place was the sequel “Mama Mia! Here We Go Again” with an impressive $34.4 million. It’s indeed possible that as official numbers come in, both flicks can swap spots. I didn’t think the flick would have the draw considering Meryl Streep’s presence is not as strong as the first flick, but fans are fans.

Last week’s previous champ, “Hotel Transylvania 3” dropped to third place with $23.2 million bringing its domestic tally to $91 million in just 10 days. “Ant-Man and the Wasp” landed in fourth place with $16.1 million and now holds a domestic tally just under $165 million. Hmm, that is a sign that this “Ant-Man” sequel was not as big as its predecessor. Rounding out the top five was “Incredibles 2” with $11.5 million. After 6 weeks in theaters, the movie has earned over $557 million at the domestic box-office.

Prepare yourself as we enter the final weekend that matters for the summer box-office. Yeah, August doesn’t really count people. However, this weekend Tom Cruise returns with the sixth installment in the “Mission: Impossible” franchise, ‘Fallout’ and based off early buzz it is considered one of the best in the franchise, so I expect it to be number 1 America!