When M. Night Shyamalan’s Split exceeded expectations and became the first big hit of 2017, box office prognosticators wondered if this was the result of a killer marketing campaign or if audiences actually liked the movie. The second weekend made it definitive: Split’s small drop-off indicated positive buzz and strong word-of-mouth, both of which allowed the film to remain on top of the charts for the third weekend in a row, narrowly edging out all newcomers, specifically Rings.

FilmWeekendPer Screen
1Split$14,584,000 (-43.2)$4,324$98,700,000
2Rings$13,000,000$4,435$13,000,000
3A Dog’s Purpose$10,824,000 (-40.6)$3,406$32,926,000
4Hidden Figures$10,100,000 (-27.9)$2,970$119,402,000
5La La Land$7,450,000 (-39.1)$2,302$118,306,000
6Resident Evil: The Final Chapter$4,500,000 (-66.9)$1,450$21,851,000
7Sing$4,080,000 (-36.3)$1,780$262,907,000
8Lion$4,006,000 (+70.6)$2,851$24,711,000
9The Space Between Us$3,820,000$1,358$3,820,000
10xXx: Return of Xander Cage$3,700,000 (-57.0)$1,493$40,024,000

Split grossed $14 million in its third weekend, bringing its current total to $98 million. It should cross the $100 million mark in a day or two, making this the most successful Shyamalan film in quite some time (especially since it was produced for such a small budget). It may not have the strength to make it to $150 million, but that’s okay  —  it’s already a huge hit. And if it does make it, it wouldn’t be the first time this film has surprised us.

While Split is an early year success story, Rings limped on to the scene in second place with only $13 million, a disappointing number for a film that has been in the works for so long. To put that in perspective, The Ring opened to $15 million back in 2002 —  before growing legs and becoming an enormous hit —  and The Ring Two opened to $35 million back in 2005 before letting audiences down and stalling at the box office. Rings is cheap enough that it may make its money back, but the negative reviews suggest that audiences probably won’t flock to this one in the coming weeks.

The weekend’s other new release, The Space Between Us, bombed in ninth place with only $3 million, the victim of poor timing and an even more poor marketing campaign.

In third place, A Dog’s Purpose did another weekend of solid, if unremarkable, business, grossing $10 million for a $32 million total. It should pay for itself soon enough, but it probably will not be a significant hit.

Meanwhile, last week’s Oscar nominations continued to have ramifications throughout the top 10, with Hidden Figures grossing $10 million for a $119 million total, making it the most financially successful film to have a Best Picture nomination this year. However, La la Land is right behind it, having grossed $7 million for a $118 million total. Lion expanded into more theaters, grossing $4 million for a $24 million total. Even when you consider the nominees currently lurking outside of the top 10, this is the rare Oscar season where the bulk of the nominees were also huge hits with audiences.

And that brings us to Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. The final Resident Evil movie continued to disappoint with only $4 million in sixth place, bringing its grand total to $21 million after two weekends. It will soon follow the lead of xXx: Return of Xander Cage, another movie which is about to exit the top 10 as one of the early bombs of 2017.

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