It’s a second hit in the row for M. Night Shyamalan, as his horror thriller Split has topped the US box office.
Showing on just over 3,000 screens, Split beat out new comers xXx: The Return of Xander Cage and The Founder to earn an estimated $40 million. It’s the director’s best opening since The Last Airbender and the fourth biggest January opening of all-time, just ahead of Cloverfield.
Split opened to a B- CinemaScore, so it’s looking good for the film to earn around $100 million domestically.
The film also opened internationally and added another $5 million to its total, giving Split $45 million worldwide.
SEE ALSO: Read our reviews of Split here and here
While the mental divisions of those with dissociative identity disorder have long fascinated and eluded science, it is believed that some can also manifest unique physical attributes for each personality, a cognitive and physiological prism within a single being. Though Kevin (James McAvoy) has evidenced 23 personalities to his trusted psychiatrist, Dr. Fletcher (Betty Buckley), there remains one still submerged who is set to materialize and dominate all the others. Compelled to abduct three teenage girls led by the willful, observant Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy, The Witch), Kevin reaches a war for survival among all of those contained within him—as well as everyone around him—as the walls between his compartments shatter apart.
Split is out now and stars James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Betty Buckley, Jessica Sula and Haley Lu Richardson.
Originally published January 23, 2017. Updated April 13, 2018.
