M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Glass’ stays No. 1 in theaters over slow Super Bowl weekend

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Universal Pictures’ thriller “Glass” remained No. 1 at the box office during a slow stretch for Hollywood releases, keeping its crown for a third straight weekend. IM. Nightts biggest competition was the Super Bowl, which routinely takes a big bite out of ticket sales.

The film, a sequel with James McAvoy, Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson, brought in $9.5 million from North American theaters, Comscore Inc. said. Analysts were predicting that number. The film had taken in $168.5 million worldwide going into the weekend – solid for a movie that cost just $20 million.

The industry is off to a weak start to 2019, with year-to-date ticket sales down 15 percent from a year ago, according to Comscore. January is typically among the slowest months, with few releases from the major studios.

February doesn’t look much better, even though the schedule holds promise with potentially big family movies like “The Lego Movie 2” and a sequel to “How to Train Your Dragon.” That’s because “Black Panther” fueled a huge February 2018, meaning theaters are looking at two down months to start the year.

“Glass” only faced competition from one new wide release: Sony Pictures’ “Miss Bala,” a crime drama shot in Mexico. It brought in $6.7 million to place third, beating Box Office Pro’s estimate of $6.5 million. Just 28 percent of critics recommended the picture.