Early Weekend Estimates: ‘Split’ Wows with Excellent $38.5M Launch; ‘xXx 3’ Starts Modestly ($19.4M); ‘Hidden Figures’ Adds $16.9M; ‘The Founder’ Eyes $2.8M; ‘Silence’ Expands to $1M

Saturday Update: M. Night Shyamalan’s Split amassed a stellar $14.6 million opening day on Friday (including Thursday evening’s $2.0 million), far surpassing industry and studio expectations as the second straight successful launch from the pairing of Shyamalan and low-budget horror producer Jason Blum. The film will easily win the weekend with what we project will be in the realm of $38.5 million, although the studio is more conservative at $34.1 million.

Meanwhile, xXx: The Return of Xander Cage bowed to a modest $7.15 million yesterday. That falls generally in line with expectations as it aims for a $19.4 million debut weekend domestically.

Meanwhile, Hidden Figures and La La Land came in with $4.425 million and $2.42 million yesterday as they continue to ride excellent word of mouth. The Founder also opened yesterday with $1.005 million from 1,115 locations, while The Resurrection of Gavin Stone posted a $380,000 first day.

Weekend estimates based on studio Friday estimates are in the chart below. Studio weekend estimates will be published tomorrow.

WIDE (1000+)

# TITLE WEEKEND LOCATIONS AVG. TOTAL WKS. DIST.
1 Split $38,500,000 3,038 $12,673 $38,500,000 1 Universal
2 xXx: The Return of Xander Cage $19,400,000 3,651 $5,314 $19,400,000 1 Paramount
3 Hidden Figures $16,900,000 -19% 3,416 130 $4,947 $84,888,751 5 Fox
4 Sing (2016) $8,400,000 -41% 3,193 -500 $2,631 $248,725,195 5 Universal
5 La La Land $8,200,000 -44% 1,865 17 $4,397 $89,530,497 7 Lionsgate / Summit
6 Monster Trucks $6,440,000 -41% 3,119 0 $2,065 $22,051,554 2 Paramount
7 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story $6,300,000 -53% 2,603 -559 $2,420 $511,465,563 6 Disney
8 Patriots Day $5,600,000 -52% 3,120 0 $1,795 $23,239,945 5 CBS Films / Lionsgate
9 The Bye Bye Man $3,600,000 -73% 2,220 0 $1,622 $20,159,630 2 STX Entertainment
10 Sleepless $3,400,000 -59% 1,803 0 $1,886 $14,886,904 2 Open Road
11 The Founder $2,800,000 1,115 $2,511 $2,800,000 1 Weinstein Company
12 Passengers $2,300,000 -57% 1,556 -891 $1,478 $94,533,188 5 Sony / Columbia
13 Moana $1,900,000 -56% 1,296 -551 $1,466 $236,174,702 9 Disney
14 Live By Night $1,600,000 -69% 2,822 0 $567 $9,267,349 5 Warner Bros.
15 Underworld: Blood Wars $1,500,000 -76% 1,466 -1604 $1,023 $28,410,959 3 Sony / Screen Gems
16 Why Him? $1,150,000 -68% 1,034 -943 $1,112 $58,015,458 5 Fox
17 Silence $1,000,000 -50% 1,580 833 $633 $5,008,701 5 Paramount

LIMITED (100 — 999)

# TITLE WEEKEND LOCATIONS AVG. TOTAL WKS. DIST.
1 Lion $1,700,000 -26% 575 0 $2,957 $16,282,530 9 Weinstein Company
2 Fences $1,170,000 -58% 693 -649 $1,688 $48,669,684 6 Paramount
3 The Resurrection of Gavin Stone $1,050,000 887 $1,184 $1,050,000 1 BH Tilt
4 Jackie $350,000 -53% 239 -114 $1,464 $11,252,840 8 Fox Searchlight
5 Trolls $335,000 -20% 243 -19 $1,379 $152,376,839 12 Fox / DreamWorks Animation
6 Assassin’s Creed $300,000 -78% 323 -645 $929 $53,782,956 5 Fox
7 Doctor Strange $135,000 -35% 132 -30 $1,023 $231,480,380 12 Disney

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Friday Report: Universal’s Split started with an estimated $2.0 million in Thursday evening previews. That’s about double the $1.0 million that director M. Night Shyamalan’s previous horror thriller, 2015’s The Visit, started with on a Thursday evening two years ago. That film started with an impressive $25.4 million, close to our final forecast on Wednesday. Thursday night’s number indicates it could potentially go higher, but Friday’s complete gross will be more telling toward that end.

Paramount’s xXx: The Return of Xander Cage began with $1.2 million from Thursday night shows. This likely puts it on track to earn somewhere between the mid-teens to low-20s for its opening weekend, for an opening less than half the original xXx in 2002.

Thursday night numbers for The Founder and The Resurrection of Gavin Stone are not yet available at this time.

Initial weekend projections based on studio Friday estimates will be posted here on Saturday.