James McAvoy says his first payment from Split arrived at the end of its opening weekend. Nearly a decade after the 2017 psychological thriller’s release, he says it’s the only movie that still brings him consistent residual checks.
The 47-year-old actor discussed those earnings on the October 15 episode of Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast. Across his other films, the payments can be tiny: “You get the odd check for a couple hundred quid here,” he said. “Sometimes you get checks for, like, 25 cents.”
Even Wanted, the 2008 action hit he starred in alongside Angelina Jolie, brings in little for him. When Horowitz suggested it must pay substantial residuals, McAvoy said he doesn’t “get too much money from” it. His credits also include playing Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men films.
McAvoy credited Split’s low production costs and the financial setup behind director M. Night Shyamalan’s thriller for its continuing payouts. He put the production budget at roughly $6 million, estimated advertising at $30 million and recalled a $40 million opening weekend.
“Our first residuals check came at the end of the first weekend,” he said, describing the arrangement as “bonkers” and calling Shyamalan “super smart.”
In Split, McAvoy played Kevin Wendell Crumb, a man with dissociative identity disorder, portraying 24 identities with different voices and mannerisms. He returned for 2019’s Glass, which connected Split with Shyamalan’s earlier film Unbreakable.
