History Trivia / Split

* SleeperHit: Released in the {{Dump Month|s}} of January, starring [[Creator/JamesMcAvoy an actor]] who has had trouble as a leading man (in spite of his talent) and a cast filled with unknowns[[note]]except for Anya Taylor-Joy, who first gained attention for her role in the critically-acclaimed movie ''Film/TheWitch''[[/note]], and being directed, produced, and written by [[Creator/MNightShyamalan a creator]] who was largely reduced to a laughingstock in spite of a solid start to his career, the movie wasn't expected to do much better than the standard low-budget horror flick. But a surprising amount of pre-release hype with good word of mouth by test audiences and critics, most of the people who saw the film deemed it to be surprisingly good. The film managed to double its opening weekend projections and held on to the #1 spot for several weeks, due to the low budget becoming one of the most profitable movies that Shyamalan ever directed.

** Not to be outdone, Creator/AnnaTaylor-Joy lost about 15 lbs from her already slender frame to play a deeply traumatized teenager.

** Not to be outdone, Creator/AnnaTaylorJoy lost about 15 lbs from her already slender frame to play a deeply traumatized teenager.

* ScrewedByTheLawyers: Averted. The movie was distributed by Universal, but [[spoiler:''Unbreakable'' is a Disney movie]]. This required Shyamalan having to [[spoiler:ask Disney for permission to use David Dunn and possibly have to pay for it]]. [[spoiler:Shyamalan and Disney producer Sean Bailey worked out an agreement: Dunn could appear in ''Split'' and for free in exchange for Disney being part of any future sequel]].

* DawsonCasting: All three of the teenage girls are played by actresses in their early 20's. Sort of mandatory because of the [[ClothingDamage gradually diminishing clothing]], but otherwise they do pass well as teenagers.

* YouLookFamiliar: [[spoiler:[[CreatorCameo M. Night Shyamalan]] played a drug dealer at the stadium in ''Film/{{Unbreakable}}'' and Jai in ''Split''.]]

* CareerResurrection: After about a decade of misfires and some other works that showed promise, ''Split'' is one of the most acclaimed and financially successful film that M. Night Shyamalan has ever produced, and certainly the most successful since at least ''Film/{{Signs}}''.[[note]]Though many people might dispute that ''Film/{{Unbreakable}}'' is still his best work due to a slight case of CriticalDissonance, and ''Film/TheSixthSense'' is still his highest-grossing and most famous work.[[/note]]

* DyeingForYourArt: The usually skinny James McAvoy got hugely ripped for the film.

* DyingForYourArt: The usually skinny James McAvoy got hugely ripped for the film.

* CareerResurrection: After about a decade of misfires and some other works that showed promise, ''Split'' is one of the most acclaimed and financially successful film that M. Night Shyamalan has ever produced, and certainly the most successful since at least ''Films/{{Signs}}''.[[note]]Though many people might dispute that ''Film/{{Unbreakable}}'' is still his best work due to a slight case of CriticalDissonance, and ''Film/TheSixthSense'' is still his highest-grossing and most famous work.[[/note]]