‘Split’ Dominates Box Office For Third Straight Week

M. Night Shyamalan continues to win this round against rival “Ring” franchise, with “Split” topping the North American box office for the third straight week. The thrilling film, which stars James McAvoy, earned another $14.6 million – pushing its 17-day total to $98.7 million.

As reported by Variety, “Split” beat out “Rings” this past weekend, which earned $13 million. To put the figures into further perspective, “Split” cost just $9 million to make, while “Rings” took $25 million to produce. As noted by Entertainment Weekly, “Split” became the first Universal release to top the domestic box office for three straight weeks. The feat was last accomplished by “Straight Outta Compton” in 2015.

Mashable reports that “Split” is also M. Night Shyamalan’s first film to pull off the three-peat, since his 1999 hit “The Sixth Sense” spent five weeks at the top of the box office. The report also notes that “Split” beat out Shyamalan’s “Unbreakable,” which earned $95 million while having a shot at catching the director’s other works—“The Village” ($114.2 million), “The Last Airbender
($131.8 million) and “Signs” ($228 million).

After “Split” and “Rings,” the weekend box office standings finds family film “A Dog’s Purpose” in third place ($10.8 million), “Hidden Figures,” a drama about African-American NASA employees, at fourth ($10.1 million), and romantic musical “La La Land” rounding out the top five ($7.4 million). Variety notes that it was an expectedly quiet weekend at the box office, with the annual TV spectacle that is the Super Bowl naturally getting most of the public’s attention.

A psychological horror film, “Split” centers on McAvoy’s character, Kevin Wendell Crumb, a man who has 23 different personalities, one of which wound up kidnapping three girls. “It’s a darn good movie,” Universal Domestic Distribution Chief Nick Carpou told variety. “It’s very satisfying for audiences; people seek out quality.”

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