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.

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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.