M. Night Shyamalan is once again the talk of the town in Hollywood. After falling out of the graces of most audiences in recent years, The Visit started to earn him back some credibility. Now, thanks to Split, it looks as though he has fully regained the support of audiences. The film is already one of the biggest surprises of 2017, mostly because initial expectations were very low, but the quality of the film has folks buzzing about Shyamalan's future.
It is largely thanks to this positive word of mouth that Split crushed expectations in its opening weekend to the tune of $40 million domestically and was poised to compete for the top spot again this weekend. While the numbers are still not official, weekend estimates have Split repeating as weekend champ, while also crossing the $100 million milestone worldwide.
Box Office Mojo is reporting that Split's weekend estimates have the film topping $26 million, only a 34% drop from the week before. These estimates place it at $77 million domestically and $34 million international - just enough to cross $100 million worldwide. Shyamalan's latest movie also beat out newcomers A Dog's Purpose ($18 million) and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter ($13.9 million), resulting in second and fourth place finishes respectively.
Crossing the $100 million mark worldwide is no small accomplishment for any film with a budget as small as $9 million. In two weeks, it has already outgrossed Shyamalan's previous efforts, The Visit and Lady in the Water. At this point it's looking like Split could, once again, be in a position to compete for a top spot next weekend. The biggest competitors could come in the form the incoming horror film, Rings, or The Space Between Us, a film which should not have much crossover in terms of target audience.
Having once again released a film that's both financially and critically successful, it will be interesting to see how Shyamalan's next project develops. He has already discussed his ideas for a sequel to Split, so Blumhouse could very well fast track the project to capitalize on this buzz. They could still be weary of giving Shyamalan a bigger budget and more control, but if he maintains the quality and focus of his last two films, it's likely his career revival will continue.
Source: Box Office Mojo
