“Glass” Opens with a Solid $47 Million at the Box Office

Bruce Willis and James McAvoy in "Glass"

M. Night Shyamalan’s Glass is expected to earn a solid $47 million by the end of Sunday, four days after it debuted on theaters Thursday night.

The performance is just slightly below what Universal had forecasted ($50 million).  The film, starring Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Sarah Paulson and James McAvoy, debuted on Thursday in 3,200 North American theaters and earned $3.7 million that night.

Glass is the continuation of Shyamalan’s Unbreakable and its sequel Split in 2017. The film’s success is yet to happen. Critics predict that Glass will become the second highest grossing film in the MLK weekend only behind American Sniper that grossed $107.2 million in 2015.  That means the film will surpass Kevin hart and Ice Cube’s Ride Along’s $48 million earnings the comedy film earned in 2014.

Shyamalan directed, wrote and financed film for a total of $20 million. He hired most of his former employees in past sequels for Glass. McAvoy reprised his character from the Split movie while both Willis and Jackson reprised their roles in the original Unbreakable movie.

Poor reviews may have shunned enthusiasm to view the film, which was originally forecasted to debut at $70 million. Fortunately, both the Upside and Aquaman also had unfavorable reviews but are leading box office numbers so far.