Battle of horror flicks:
Universal’s Split won over Paramount’s Rings in a narrow victory at the domestic box office.
The low-budget thriller retained its first place position for the third consecutive weekend, earning $14.6 million. Split, the story of a man with multiple personalities, has made $98.7 million stateside, while costing just $9 million, making it very profitable indeed. The film stars James McAvoy, was directed by “The Sixth Sense’s” M. Night Shyamalan, and produced by Jason Blum’s Blumhouse Productions, the maker of “Sinister” and “Paranormal Activity.”
This weekend, America’s attention has shifted away from the multiplexes to the coming battle between the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons. The two teams will meet at Super Bowl LI, and the high-profile matchup should ensure that the weekend box office closes on a muted note.
Paramount has gone through a bruising period at the box office, enduring a stream of painful flops such as “Allied,” “Ben-Hur,” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.” The studio has scored with the Oscar-nominated “Fences” and “Arrival,” but is trying to exhibit greater consistency on the big screen.