Weekend Box Office: 'Split' Takes the Weekend
by EG
Two of the week's new movies landed on top of the box office charts for the weekend. One of those movies far outperformed expectations and turned into a legitimate hit.
The unexpected performer was Split, the new horror film from director M. Night Shyamalan and starring James McAvoy. Most predictions had the film earning somewhere in the $20-million range, but it pulled in about twice that, taking the top spot with an estimated $40 million.
In a distant second place was another new release, XXX: Return of Xander Cage. The action movie starring Vin Diesel took in about $20 million, pretty much in line with expectations. Most observers, though, had thought the film would be a contender for the top spot, but it didn't come close to challenging Split's dominance.
The week's other two new films weren't expected to do big box office, and they didn't. Michael Keaton's The Founder took in $3.8 million and settled into ninth place. The Christian comedy/drama The Resurrection of Gavin Stone generated no interest outside its narrow base; it took in just $1.4 million and barely cracked the top 20.
Rounding out the top five were hold-overs Hidden Figures, Sing and La La Land. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story faded into sixth place, but it also crossed the $1 billion-mark in worldwide earnings.