'Glass' had a strong box office opening during the MLK holiday weekend, but it could have been bigger

Universal and M. Night Shyamalan's "Glass" earned $40.6 million since Sunday and looks to make around $48 million by Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday.
It was a strong opening, but the movie had the potential to earn more.
Pre-release industry projections had the movie's four-day opening between $60 million and $70 million.
The latest Shyamalan movie suffered from a low Rotten Tomatoes score.
However, Shyamalan is laughing all the way to the bank. "Glass" is his third-straight movie to make a profit.

Universal had everything set up to have a big Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend with its latest M. Night Shyamalan release, "Glass," which marks the close of the director's "Unbreakable" trilogy. And though the movie did make more than its $20 million budget, self-financed by Shyamalan , everyone involved was hoping for a lot more.

"Glass" brought in $40.6 million as of Sunday and is projected to earn around $48 million by Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday. That would make the movie, the latest collaboration between Shyamalan and Blumhouse Productions ("Get Out"), the third-biggest opening ever for the MLK Day four-day weekend.

But industry projections had the movie's four-day opening eyeing between $60 million and $70 million, causing the other studios to stay away from the holiday weekend. In 2016, "Split," Shyamalan's surprise sequel to his 2000 comic book-focused cult hit "Unbreakable," became an unexpected box-office darling.

However, the performance by "Glass" is the latest example that you can never predict how audiences (and critics) will react to an M. Night Shyamalan movie.

Split Universal Universal

The "Split" success led to the rare occurrence where two studios were willing to work together on a movie. It was agreed that Universal would release "Glass" domestically and Disney would handle the movie's international release.

Though the movie was incredibly hyped and is the first major release of 2019, people became less excited when critical reaction spread online and social media. With a current score of 35% on Rotten Tomatoes , and word beginning to spread of the movie's disappointing ending, the movie suddenly was not going to hit its projections.

But in no way is this a failure for Universal. The hype allowed the studio to have the MLK weekend for itself. By Monday the movie will pass 2008's "Cloverfield" ($46.1 million) to become the third-biggest opening over the holiday weekend, with 2014's "Ride Along" ($48.6 million) and 2015's "American Sniper" ($107.2 million) still in second and first, respectively.

Having already earned more than its budget, "Glass" will mark the third straight Shyamalan movie to make a profit. All of them while working with Jason Blum's Blumhouse Productions "The Visit" ( $5 million budget ), "Split" ($9 million), and "Glass" ($20 million). And all three were self-financed by the writer-director.

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