Sony Pictures has released the first trailer for The Equalizer 2, the long-awaited follow-up to 2014's The Equalizer, which hits theaters this summer. Denzel Washington returns to reprise his role as Robert McCall from the original movie, which itself was a theatrical remake of the 1980s hit TV series starring Edward Woodward. As you can see in this new footage, McCall is back with a vengeance, and this time around, he has some new enemies.

Denzel Washington returns to one of his signature roles in the first sequel of his career. Robert McCall serves an unflinching justice for the exploited and oppressed, but how far will he go when that is someone he loves? Pedro Pascal of Narcos and Game of Thrones fame joins the cast as the new villain, with Melissa Leo and Bill Pullman reprising their roles from the first movie as Susan and Brian Plummer. Chloe Moretz, who played the young Teri in the original movie, will not be returning for the sequel.

The creative team behind the first Equalizer movie remains intact, though, with Antoine Fuqua returning to direct from a script by Richard Wenk, based on characters created by Michael Sloan and Richard Lindheim, who created the original TV series. The original Equalizer movie, which debuted in the fall of 2014, fared quite well at the box office, taking in $101.5 million domestically and $90.8 million from international markets for a worldwide total of $192.3 million, from just a $55 million budget.

While no budget numbers were given for The Equalizer 2, Sony seems rather confident in this sequel, considering the studio shifted the movie from an August 3 release date to July 20, smack dab in the heart of the summer movie season. As of now, its only competition is Universal's musical sequel Mamma Mia 2: Here We Go Again, but it arrives a week before Sony Animation's Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation and Universal's Skyscraper, and a week before Paramount's Mission: Impossible - Fallout and Warner Bros.' Teen Titans Go! To The Movies.

If it would have stayed put in its August 3 date, it would be the sixth wide release to open in that frame, going up against 20th Century Fox's The Darkest Minds starring Mandy Moore, Disney's Christopher Robin starring Ewan McGregor and Hayley Atwell, STX Entertainment's Mile 22 starring Mark Wahlberg, John Malkovich and Ronda Rousey, Sony's Searching starring John Cho and Debra Messing and Lionsgate's The Spy Who Dumped Me starring Kate McKinnon and Mila Kunis. Given how jam-packed this August 3 frame has become, it was certainly wise of Sony to push The Equalizer 2 back a few weeks, although there will certainly be no shortage of competition in its July date, which also comes just two weeks after Marvel's third movie of the year, Ant-Man and the Wasp. Along with this new trailer, courtesy of Sony Pictures YouTube, you can take a look at the poster and photos that debuted yesterday.