A movie about an insane, deadly man who kidnaps three teenagers leads the 2017 box office with domestic receipts of $128 million. It benefits from having been released weeks before other films in the race.

The success of “Split,” which was released January 10,  is improbable. Its major character, Kevin Wendell Crumb , has 23 personalities, which is several more than a 117 minute movie likely needs. The film’s star, James McAvoy, has done generally good work. However, he is not the kind of draw that Tom Cruise or Denzel Washington are.

The movie’s director is famous, and has made several highly successful films. M. Night Shyamalan has also directed “The Sixth Sense,” “Unbreakable” and “Signs.” The first two movies starred major box office star Bruce Willis. “Signs” stared Mel Gibson, before he became a Hollywood pariah. (Although he seems to have staged a comeback in the last year)

“Split”‘s production and distribution home is Universal Pictures, part of the NBCUniversal division of cable giant Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA). The studio also has the third best performing movie of the year, the semi-pornographic “50 Shades Darker” which has brought in $99 million in domestic box office. It was released on February 10

The movie likely to take the number one spot soon is “The LEGO Batman Movie,” an illustrated story based on a successful toy franchise married with a successful super hero one. It has taken in $118 million in domestic box office. It had a February 10 release date.

Since the most successful movies each year usually bring in over $500 million, none of the top movies so far this year is likely to take the top spot of 2017. The means the eventual No.1 has, obviously, not even hit theaters.

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