James McAvoy reveals surprising film still makes him money

James McAvoy has revealed his 2017 psychological thriller Split remains the only film consistently earning him residual payments, despite a Hollywood career that includes major franchises, critically acclaimed dramas and box office successes.

The 47-year-old Scottish actor, best known for playing Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men films and starring in Atonement, The Last King of Scotland and Shameless, discussed his earnings during an appearance on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast on Thursday (15.10.26.)

James said that payments from his other films were often negligible, while the commercial success of Split, directed by M. Night Shyamalan, 56, had provided an unusually reliable source of income nearly a decade after its release.

Speaking about the payments he receives from previous projects, James said: “You get the odd check for a couple hundred quid here.”

The actor also challenged Josh’s suggestion his 2008 action thriller Wanted, in which he starred alongside Angelina Jolie, 51, had generated substantial residual income.

James explained he does not “get too much money from” the film, despite its international box office success.

He instead credited the financial structure of Split for the continuing payments, explaining its relatively modest production budget had allowed it to become profitable almost immediately.

He said: “It was made for $6 million or something like that. I’d say they spent $30 [million] advertising it. Our first weekend, we made $40 [million], so we made profit. Our first residuals check came at the end of the first weekend.”

James described the arrangement as “bonkers” and praised M. Night as “super smart” for the way the film was produced.

The thriller featured James as Kevin Wendell Crumb, a man with dissociative identity disorder whose different identities include several threatening personalities.

His performance required him to switch rapidly between characters with distinct voices, mannerisms and behaviour, with the film depicting 24 personalities.

Split became a major commercial success and was subsequently followed by Glass in 2019, which brought together characters from the director’s earlier film Unbreakable.

Despite widespread discussion about the possibility of awards recognition for his performance, James failed to secure a nomination at the major Hollywood ceremonies.

Asked whether he had expected his performance to receive recognition during awards season, James joked: “I got this bar of gold bullion, and I crafted my own and had a ceremony for it.”