Dailymail; Split, a thriller about a man with a personality disorder who imprisons three teenage girls, debuted as top earner at the weekend box officer scaring up $40.2 million in North America.
James McAvoy stars in the chiller, directed by M. Night Shyamalan and produced for a meagre $10 million - a hefty return on investment, according to Box Office Mojo.
Vin Diesel action flick, xXx: Return Of Xander Cage, opened in second place with some $20 million in anticipated receipts.
The sex-laden, car chase movie is the third in the franchise and the second to star muscleman Diesel. Co-stars include Samuel L. Jackson, Donnie Yen, Deepika Padukone, Ruby Rose, Kris Wu, and Nina Dobrev.
And although its take was half that of Split's it did incredibly well internationally, pulling in another $50.5 million for a $70.5 million total.
Hidden Figures, a true story about three African-American women mathematicians who helped NASA put the first men in space in the 1960s, ended its two-week run as the No.1 film, coming in third with $16.25 million for a cume of $84.2 million domestically.
Starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monae, it was nominated for two Golden Globes and is already the centre of Oscar buzz. It has yet to open in most of the rest of the world.
Universal's animated musical Sing, featuring the voice talents of a starry cast including Reese Witherspoon and Matthew McConaughey, tuned into fourth place with a $9 million take over the weekend.
Released on December 21, the family friendly film has now nabbed just under $250 million at home and $428 million globally.
La La Land, a nostalgic tribute to the Golden Age of Hollywood musicals, came in fifth, earning an estimated $8.4 million this weekend after garnering a boatload of accolades, including eight Golden Globes earlier this month.
That lifted the Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone starrer's domestic total to $89.7 million and its worldwide cume to $173.4 million.
Meanwhile, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which came in sixth with $7 million has powered its way past the $1 billion mark globally in its sixth week of release.
That makes Rogue One the 28th film to have ever hit that figure worldwide and Disney's fourth 2016 release to cross the milestone.
