M. Night Shyamalan’s multiple-personality thriller Split took home another win at the box office this week, narrowly beating supernatural horror sequel
Rings
for the top spot.
The three-week run for
Split
is particularly noteworthy because it’s only the second movie directed by Shyamalan to pull off such a feat. The last one of Shyamalan’s films to win the box office three weeks in a row was 1999’s critically acclaimed thriller
The Sixth Sense
— a film many consider to be the filmmaker’s best work.
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Coming in a close second was Rings, the third film in the supernatural horror series that began with Gore Verbinski’s 2002 film
The Ring
, an American remake of director Hideo Nakata’s wildly popular 1998 film. The sequel’s relatively underwhelming debut was matched by poor reviews, which generally doesn’t bode well for a productive run in theaters.
#
Title
Weekend
U.S. Total
Worldwide Total
1.
Split
$14.5M
$98.7M
$142.7M
2.
Rings
$13M
$13M
$28.2M
3.
A Dog’s Purpose
$10.8M
$32.9M
$42.5M
4.
Hidden Figures
$10.1M
$119.4M
$122.1M
5.
La La Land
$7.4M
$118.3M
$268.3M
6.
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
$4.5M
$21.8M
$117.4M
7.
Sing
$4M
$262.9M
$487M
8.
Lion
$4M
$24.7M
$38.8M
9.
The Space Between Us
$3.8M
$3.8M
$3.8M
10.
xXx: Return of Xander Cage
$3.7M
$40M
$152.4M
The only other new release to find its way into the top ten was the teenage sci-fi romance
The Space Between Us
, which underperformed expectations rather fantastically, earning just $3.8 million in U.S. theaters. The movie — which follows a teenage boy raised on a different planet who comes to Earth to finally meet the girl he loves — crashed dramatically in its debut, and could be hard-pressed to cover its relatively meager $30 million budget.
As usual for this particular franchise,
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
managed to do well enough internationally to make up for its shortcomings in U.S. theaters, and along with helping to put the Resident Evil franchise over the $1 billion mark worldwide, it also raked in $117.4 million worldwide so far. The Resident Evil franchise continues to find success in the formula it’s followed from the very start, even after six films and almost 15 years.
This upcoming week looks to be a busy one at theaters, with a wide variety of films with considerable buzz making their debuts.
On the family-friendly side, The LEGO Batman Movie offers up an animated, superhero-focused spinoff from 2014’s
The LEGO Movie
, while John Wick: Chapter 2 brings Keanu Reeves back as the titular hitman who can’t stay retired. Romantic thriller Fifty Shades Darkerserves up a sequel to
Fifty Shades of Grey
, and Fist Fight brings Charlie Day and Ice Cube together for a raunchy comedy about two teachers who get caught up in a schoolyard brawl.
Tom Cruise is in early talks for a Days of Thunder sequel
Legacy sequels have become one of the biggest new veins of Hollywood IP in recent years, and few stars know that better than Tom Cruise. The actor, who starred in the hugely successful Top Gun: Maverick, is now reportedly in talks to star in another sequel to one of his earlier hits.
Variety is reporting that Cruise is in early talks to star in a sequel to Days of Thunder, his 1990 movie about a race car driver who is recruited to a new NASCAR team led by Robert Duvall. Days of Thunder is Cruise’s only official writing credit to date, and it’s also where he met Nicole Kidman, who he would be married to for 11 years.
Robert Zemeckis says Disney would never make a Who Framed Roger Rabbit sequel
Director Robert Zemeckis has had a long career in Hollywood, and in his time in the industry, he’s seen things shift and change. Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, his hybrid live-action and animated comedy from the late 1980s, is widely regarded today as a classic, but during a recent interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Zemeckis suggested that he didn’t think the movie could get made today.
He also acknowledged that there’s a sequel script that exists but doesn’t think it will ever get made. “There’s a good script [for a sequel] at Disney, but here’s the thing: The current Disney would never make Roger Rabbit today,” he explained. “They can’t make a movie with Jessica in it.”
50 years ago, this gonzo horror comedy with a killer score became an instant cult classic
Fifty years after its release, Phantom of the Paradise continues to rock the hearts and minds of its devoted fans. Written and directed by Hollywood legend Brian De Palma (Carrie), this film follows scarred and vengeful singer-songwriter Winslow Leach (William Finley) who terrorizes a producer (Paul Williams) for stealing his music, ultimately selling his soul to him for the chance to sing again.
Though the film bombed at the box office and received mostly negative criticism upon release, this musical comedy has since gained a cult following akin to a similar classic from the 1970s, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Now that the film is celebrating its 50th anniversary, it's prime time to review why Phantom of the Paradise has gone on to be considered an underrated gonzo masterpiece.
A Phantom with style and flair to spare