James McAvoy has revealed that his 2016 film Split is the only movie that consistently pays him residuals, a decade after its release. The 47-year-old actor, originally from Drumchapel, shared the details on the Happy Sad Confused podcast with host Josh Horowitz.
Residual income from Split
McAvoy explained that while his residual income is generally inconsistent, Split stands out as the exception. He said: "The only one that really consistently pays me is Split. Well, I think it was made for like $6 million or something like that. And let's say they spent $30 [million] advertising it, and in our first weekend, we made $40 [million]."
He added: "So, we were in profit. So our first residual check came at the end of the first weekend. It was bonkers." The film, directed by M. Night Shyamalan, follows three girls attempting to escape after being abducted by McAvoy's character, Kevin, who has 23 diagnosed distinct personalities. McAvoy later reprised the character in the 2019 film Glass.
Praise for Shyamalan and other earnings
McAvoy praised Shyamalan, describing him as "super smart in so many ways." He said: "The thing that I took away from him was his preparation because you know he made that film and Glass on incredibly modest budgets and was very focused." He added that the filmmaker maximised his shooting time by "being incredibly well-prepared" and "communicating with the crew."
While McAvoy has enjoyed residuals from Split, he confessed that he doesn't "get too much money from [2008's] Wanted." He explained: "You've always got a good back end and there's some in your contract, you get back end here and back end there. I very rarely see anything from anything. You get the odd check for like a couple hundred quid here or sometimes you get checks for like 25 cents, and you're like it literally costs more to post this than it did for me to check it."
Career background
McAvoy made his acting debut as a teen in The Near Room (1995) and appeared mostly on television until 2003, when his film career began. Last year, he made his directorial debut with the feature film California Schemin', which was released in UK cinemas in April 2026.
