Denzel Washington hasn’t had a movie open to less than $20million since 2007. Yes, he has made a hell of a lot of cash for himself and Hollywood bigwigs but this says something about the man himself.

People LOVE him! And now, his starring role in the The Magnificent Seven reboot has seen an opening weekend of $35million, trouncing the competition. The nearest being Sully, staring Tom Hanks, another of the public’s beloved!

MGM failed big time with Ben Hur, which typically cast a bunch of white folk with British accents in a 2000 year old setting (ok, Freeman had dreads but it wasn’t enough to save a dreadful mistep). However The Magnificent Seven took a different approach, one that was welcomed.

The Huffington Post wrote (http://huff.to/2d2M7Ob):

But “The Magnificent Seven” counts as a win for the company. It also proves the viability of remaking older films, provided their is some novel spin to provide. In this case, Washington and director Antoine Fuqua, were able to stage balletic shootouts that rivaled those in John Sturges’ original 1960 film. They also played up the diversity of their cast, rounding out the cast of mercenaries with South Korean actor Byung-hun Lee, Mexican actor Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, and Native American actor Martin Sensmeier. That multi-cultural aspect seemed to resonate in a post-#OscarsSoWhite era. Sony Pictures distributed “The Magnificent Seven” and teamed with MGM, LStar Capital, and Village Roadshow to finance the $90 million production.

Later this year we’ll see Washington back in a very important project. He directs and staring in an adaptation of August Wilson’s play “Fences,” alongside Viola Davis.

Below is the trailer for The Magnificant Seven, will you be going to see it?