Split (2016 American film)


Split is a 2017 American psychological thriller film written, directed and produced by M. Night Shyamalan, and starring James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Betty Buckley. It is the second installment in the Unbreakable trilogy and a "stealth sequel" to Unbreakable. The film follows a man with dissociative identity disorder who kidnaps and imprisons three teenage girls in an isolated underground facility.
Principal photography began on November 11, 2015, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The film premiered at Fantastic Fest on September 26, 2016, and was released in the United States on January 20, 2017. Unlike its predecessor, the film was distributed by Universal Pictures instead of Touchstone Pictures, which went defunct in 2016. It received generally positive reviews; critics highly praised McAvoy's performance, and welcomed Shyamalan's direction, although some mental health advocates criticized the film for its stigmatization of mental illness. Split was a commercial success, grossing $278 million worldwide on a budget of $9 million, becoming Blumhouse Productions' highest-grossing film until 2023 when Five Nights at Freddy's overtook it. The 2019 film Glass, which combined the casts and characters of both previous films, concluded the trilogy.

Plot

Just outside Philadelphia, three teenage girls — Claire, Marcia, and Casey — are waiting in the car of Claire's father to be driven home from a birthday party. They are kidnapped by a man, who imprisons them in an underground lair. It becomes clear that this man has dissociative identity disorder rooted in his history of childhood abuse and abandonment. The man has been living with his 23 distinct identities for several years with help from his therapist, Dr. Karen Fletcher, who is pleased that the man has been able to hold down a good job. One of these personas "Barry" has been in control of deciding which personalities get to control the man's body; lately he has not allowed two others, "Dennis" and "Patricia", to have a turn due to the former's tendency to harass young women and the latter's belief in a mysterious 24th yet-to-manifest alter called "The Beast" who plans to rid the world of the "impure"those who have not suffered.
The captives meet "Patricia," who protects them from "Dennis" to save them for "The Beast," and a 9-year-old boy alter named "Hedwig," whom "Patricia" and "Dennis" manipulate to shut out the other alters. Through a series of flash-backs, it is revealed that Casey herself is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. She attempts to psychologically manipulate the various alters to gain opportunities for escape. The captives make several escape attempts: one by climbing through an air vent, one by attacking the man with a chair, and one by finding a walkie-talkie and calling for help. The man punishes them for their failed escape attempts by locking them in separate rooms.
During a session, Dr. Fletcher questions the man about an incident where two teenage schoolgirls had placed his hands on their breasts during a field trip to his workplace, and becomes concerned when she realizes that "Dennis" has been impersonating "Barry." Dr. Fletcher goes to the lair to talk to "Dennis" and he confesses that he has met "The Beast". She discovers Claire, so "Dennis" incapacitates and imprisons Dr. Fletcher. "Dennis" goes to the train station and boards an empty train car, where "The Beast" takes over. "The Beast," who displays enhanced strength and animalistic tendencies, returns to his lair, thanks Dr. Fletcher for her help, and crushes her to death.
"The Beast" feeds upon and kills Claire and Marcia before approaching Casey. But Casey finds a note scrawled by Dr. Fletcher with instructions to call out the man's full nameKevin Wendell Crumbwhich brings forth his original personality. Upon learning of the situation and realizing that he has not been in control of his own body for two years, the horrified Kevin begs Casey to kill him with a shotgun he has hidden. This prompts all 24 personalities to fight for control, with "Patricia" the victor. She tells Casey that "Kevin" has been made to sleep far away and will not awaken now, even if his name is called. While "Patricia" returns control to "The Beast," Casey retrieves the shotgun and a box of cartridges and runs into a tunnel where "The Beast" stalks her. She locks herself in an iron cage and manages to shoot "The Beast" twice before running out of ammunition. Only wounded, he bends the iron bars with apparently superhuman strength but stops when he sees scars across her abdomen and chest. These are related to her abuse from her uncle and legal guardian, John, both before and after her father's death. "The Beast" tells her that because she has suffered she is "pure" and he will spare her life. He leaves and she is found the following day by a worker. It is revealed that the lair is under the Philadelphia Zoo.
In another hideout, "Dennis," "Patricia," and "Hedwig" discuss the power of "The Beast" and their plans to change the world. At the Silk City Diner, several patrons watch a news report on "The Beast's" crimes, with the correspondent mentioning that his numerous alters have earned him the nickname "The Horde." A waitress notes the similarity to a criminal in a wheelchair incarcerated 15 years earlier, who was also given a nickname. As she tries to remember it, David Dunn, sitting next to her, replies that it was "Mr. Glass."

Cast

In addition, the film's writer, director, and producer M. Night Shyamalan makes an appearance as Jai, which he reprises in his 2019 production Glass, where his character jokingly says he used to do shady stuff in the stadium back in his youthreferring to his unnamed cameo as "Stadium Drug Dealer" in Shyamalan's 2000 production Unbreakable and completing his character's presence across the Unbreakable film series. Similarly, Bruce Willis has an uncredited cameo as his David Dunn character from Unbreakable, later appearing in the main cast of Glass.

Production

Shyamalan conceived the idea for Split years before he wrote the screenplay. He explained, "In this case, I had written the character a while ago, and I had written out a few scenes of it, so I even had dialogue written out, which is really unusual for me. It sat there for a long time, and I really don't have a clear reason why I didn't pull the trigger earlier. But this felt like the perfect time to do it, with the type of movies I'm doing now, and the type of tones I am interested in – humor and suspense."
On October 2, 2015, James McAvoy was cast in the film to play the lead, replacing Joaquin Phoenix, who had left the project a few weeks before it began shooting. On October 12, 2015, Anya Taylor-Joy, Betty Buckley, Jessica Sula, and Haley Lu Richardson were added to the cast. On October 27, 2015, Universal Pictures came on board to release the film and titled it as Split.
The character of Kevin had been in one of the early drafts of Shyamalan's Unbreakable, but he had pulled the character out, stating there were balancing issues at that time. With Split, he brought in some of the scenes he had written for Unbreakable around Kevin. The film ends with the appearance of Bruce Willis's character, David Dunn, from Unbreakable, who makes a comment in reference to the previous film, placing Unbreakable and Split within the same narrative universe. Shyamalan requested permission to incorporate the character from Walt Disney Studios, which had produced Unbreakable. Shyamalan met with Sean Bailey about the use of the character; they came to a gentlemen's agreement where Bailey agreed to allow the use of the character in the film without a fee and Shyamalan promised that Disney would be involved in a sequel if developed. Shyamalan was very secretive of Willis' involvement in Split, removing the final scene from the film for test audiences. The cameo was shown at the 2016 Fantastic Fest and 2016 AFI Fest months before its theatrical release.
As with The Visit, Shyamalan funded the film himself. Principal photography on the film began on November 11, 2015, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Reshoots occurred in June 2016. During post-production, Sterling K. Brown's role as Shaw, Dr. Fletcher's neighbor, was cut from the film, as Shyamalan felt that his scenes were ultimately unnecessary. McAvoy broke his hand in a scene where he was supposed to punch a metal door, but missed the soft section of the door he intended to hit.

Music

Release

Split had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest on September 26, 2016. It also screened at the AFI Fest on November 15, 2016. The film was theatrically released on January 20, 2017, in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. Split was released on Digital HD on April 4, 2017, and on Blu-ray, DVD, and On-Demand on April 18, 2017, by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.

Reception

Box office

Split grossed $138.3 million in the United States and Canada and $140.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide gross of $278.5 million, against a production budget of $9 million. Deadline Hollywood calculated the film made a net profit of $68.2 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues. It had a gross profit of, with over 2,000% return on investment, making it the most profitable film of 2017.
In North America, the film was released alongside the openings of xXx: Return of Xander Cage, The Resurrection of Gavin Stone and The Founder, as well as the wide expansion of 20th Century Women, and was initially expected to gross $20–25 million from 3,038 theaters in its opening weekend. It made $2 million from its Thursday night previews at 2,295 theaters, doubling the $1 million made by Shyamalan's The Visit in 2015, and $14.6 million on its first day, increasing weekend estimates to $30–37 million; it ended up opening to $40.2 million, finishing first at the box office. In its second weekend, the film made $26.3 million, again topping the box office. In its third week, it again topped the box office, this time with $14.6 million, becoming the first Shyamalan film to finish at number one for three straight weeks since The Sixth Sense in 1999.