While Vin Diesel’s return to the extreme sports-meets-espionage series performed well internationally, M. Night Shyamalan‘s latest film nabbed the top spot in the United States. Split took the number one spot at the Box Office its opening weekend, beating out xXx: Return of Xander Cage in domestic markets.
But while impressive ticket sales are one story, Split‘s connection to another M. Night Shyamalan film has generated buzz as fans wonder what’s next for the filmmaker.
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SPOILERS BEWARE!
As previously mentioned, Split shocked movie goers with a stinger at the end that revealed the film’s connection to one of Shyamalan’s earliest films, Unbreakable.
Split is a psychological thriller with paranormal themes and stars James McAvoy as a man with multiple personalities. By the film’s end, one personality with superhuman strength takes control, dubbed ‘the Beast,’ and breaks free from capture by the police. The film ends with a scene in a diner where eaters are watching the news. They reference events from Unbreakable, which prompts Bruce Willis‘ character from the film to make an appearance.
Shyamalan spoke with EW about the film’s ending and what it could mean for another installment in this universe. When asked if McAvoy knew about the connection between the films, Shyamalan responded.
“Oh yeah, he knew from the beginning. And he was pumped,” Shyamalan said. “He was like, ‘Oh, man, I might get to do another movie with Bruce? My God!’ He was excited.”
Shyamalan explained that McAvoy’s character Kevin appeared in the original script and that he’d written a few of the scenes in Split film years ago, when he wrote Unbreakable.
But his latest film, Shyamalan realized, had to stand on its own, and he didn’t include this pivotal scene in test screenings because he wanted to make sure it did just that.
“Our job was to make Split a great psychological thriller with supernatural overtones,” Shyamalan said. “We weren’t worrying about the [ending] tag.”
Split is in theaters now.
[Embed id=57008]Split[/Embed]
