Universal Pictures found the keys to success at the box office during the first quarter of 2017.

Parent company Comcast Corp. CMCSA, -0.70% reported earnings that exceeded Wall Street expectations, with per-share earnings increasing 26% year over year and revenue increasing 9%.

Thanks to a surprisingly strong box office performance in the quarter, filmed entertainment revenue saw a 43.2% bump in the quarter compared with last year. Universal can thank the early-year releases of “Get Out” and “Split,” as well as “Fifty Shades Darker.”

While “Fifty Shades Darker” raked in $378.8 million globally and continues Universal’s adapted romance drama franchise, “Get Out” and “Split” came seemingly out of nowhere. Both “Get Out,” helmed by first-time director Jordan Peele, and “Split,” from M. Night Shyamalan, were products of Jason Blum’s Blumhouse Productions. That means they were made on a shoestring.

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“I don’t know that anyone could have predicted the success of ‘Split’ and ‘Get Out,’” said senior ComScore media analyst Paul Dergarabedian.

Film Clip: 'Get Out'

With a $4.5 million production budget, “Get Out” pulled in $189.3 million worldwide while holding a 99% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. And “Split,” as part of M. Night Shyamalan’s journey back into moviegoers’ good graces, earned $274.7 million worldwide on a modest $9 million budget. The film has a 75% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

These weren’t movies audiences were waiting for, at least not the way the industry has grown accustom to, with a spotlight expecting them to make big splashes. These were small films, released in otherwise quiet months that were fueled by good reviews and strong word-of-mouth.

Studios are constantly fighting for box office. A film’s opening weekend can be incredibly important, as it often helps set the value of the film over the course of its shelf life. So studios jockey for release dates, trying desperately to avoid being overshadowed by big budget blockbusters.

And there were certain months studios avoided all together.

“There was a time when the first three months of the year were basically a write off; you had to wait till basically April,” Dergarabedian said. “Studios are now walking the walk, not just talking the talk of the 52-week release window.”

During its quarterly conference call with analysts Universal said it expects its strong box office performance to continue in the second quarter thanks to the April release of the highly anticipated “The Fate of the Furious,” which pulled in $914.3 million worldwide and the astonishingly successful “The Boss Baby,” which has earned $365.7 million worldwide.

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