Split tops XXX: Return of Xander Cage in first week box office sales.

There was big return to theaters this weekend as Vin Diesel reassumed his role as Xander Cage which he last played fifteen years ago in xXx. It is also the return of the once prominent director M. Night Shyamalan who hasn’t made a good movie since about fifteen years ago. xXx: Return of Xander Cage was killed in the box office by Shyamalan’s Split starring James McAvoy. 

Why did Split crush Xander Cage? Maybe because a movie with “XXX” in the title is challenging to Google in mixed company. Maybe it was because, for some reason, Shyamalan still has a very devout following who believes he still has some good movies left in him even after creating movies like The Happening, After Earth, and probably the most disappointing movie of all time: The Last Airbender. Seriously, how can the guy who made Unbreakable make so many flops?

Still, Split made $14.6 million on Friday while Xander Cage only made $7.1 million. Let’s face it, people just love when characters with psychological disorders become violent killers. McAvoy plays a character with dissociative identity disorder who tortures a bunch of young girls. It’s a hit. Of course, whenever a movie or TV show depicts someone with a psychological disorder who isn’t violent, no one watches it such as United States of Tara (RIP). 

Regardless, Split only cost $10 million to make, it’s already a massive success. Welcome back, Mr. Shyamalan.