Split stuns with massive $40 million box office debut

How’s this for a twist? Moviegoers made an M. Night Shyamalan film tops at the box office. Shyamalan’s star has been on the decline for years, but Split might have marked a resurgence in the filmmaker’s career. Split easily dominated the box office with $40 million. That was double the amount taken in by fellow newcomer xXx: Return of Xander Cage.

Audiences were intrigued by Split’s premise of a man with multiple personalities (James McAvoy) both aiding and attacking a trio of girls. Split marks Shyamalan’s fourth best opening of his 11 films and best since 2010’s The Last Airbender ($40.3 million). With strong word of mouth, there’s a great chance that Split eventually goes on to be Shyamalan’s fifth film to crack the $100 million mark. Not bad for a ‘fading’ talent.

2. xXx: Return of Xander Cage – $20 million (debut week). Vin Diesel’s follow-up to his extreme action character didn’t ride much of a nostalgia wave. Filmed for $85 million, distributor Paramount Pictures was undoubtedly hoping for a stronger opening weekend. Word of mouth will be key for the film if there’s any chance for it to make much of a profit. Otherwise, this franchise might be shelved for good.

3. Hidden Figures  – $16.2 million (5th week, $84.2 million total) The civil rights space drama continued to perform well as it sets its sights on the $100 million milestone. Hopefully this paves the way for more untold historical black figures films in the upcoming years. With a mere $25 million budget, Figures has certainly proven to be a big hit for 20th Century Fox.

4. Sing – $9 million (5th week, $249 million) The other longtime holdover continues to be a big box office player. Sing has proven to be an immense hit for Universal Pictures easily making back its $75 million budget. There may be enough time for more encores since there’s not a lot of obvious family friendly films besides the now embattled A Dog’s Purpose. There’s no telling how the accusations of making the dogs perform against their will could hurt that film, but it definitely should help make Sing the destination film for families next weekend.

5. La La Land – $8.3 million (7th week, $90 million) The Oscar frontrunner is also closing in on $100 million. Making the $30 million production a very strong investment beyond the critical acclaim for distributor Lionsgate. And once the Oscar nominations and wins come in, La La Land could eventually reach $130 million.