Split Beats xXx: Return Of Xander Cage In Friday Box Office

There’s a battle for supremacy at the box office this weekend, with an unlikely film in the lead.

M. Night Shyamalan’s film Split is receiving a number of positive reviews and is being heralded as another return to form after his return to horror thrillers with The Visit. So far Split is leading the Friday box office as well, with an impressive $14.6 million from 3,038 locations (via Variety). The previous estimates put Split at around $28 million for the weekend, but if it keeps up this pace it could be more in the $34 million range.

The other big debut is Vin Diesel’s xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage, though so far it’s not even close in competition. The film took in $7.1 million in 3,651 locations and is currently estimated to hit around $19 million for the weekend. To put that into perspective, the original opened up to $44.5 million back in 2002.

The weekend’s third film opening, Michael Keaton’s The Founder, isn’t off to a strong start either, bringing a bit under $3 million.

Hidden Figures, last week’s previous winner, is sitting in third place this weekend bringing in another $4.4 million on Friday, and should hit around $16 million by the end of the weekend.

The third explosive chapter of the blockbuster franchise that redefined the spy thriller finds extreme athlete turned government operative Xander Cage (Vin Diesel) coming out of self-imposed exile and on a collision course with deadly alpha warrior Xiang and his team in a race to recover a sinister and seemingly unstoppable weapon known as Pandora’s Box. Recruiting an all-new group of thrill-seeking cohorts, Xander finds himself enmeshed in a deadly conspiracy that points to collusion at the highest levels of world governments. Packed with the series’ signature deadpan wit and bad-ass attitude, “xXx: RETURN OF XANDER CAGE” will raise the bar on extreme action with some of the most mind-blowing stunts to ever be caught on film.

xXx: Return Of Xander Cage and Split are both in theaters now.

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