The latest horror film featuring Jessica Chastain, titled Other Mommy, has topped the North American box office, outperforming expectations. In contrast, The Social Reckoning had a disappointing opening weekend.
Performance of Other Mommy
Other Mommy, released by Universal Pictures, grossed $27.5 million in its opening weekend across 3,365 theaters. The movie centers around a sinister supernatural entity that threatens a young girl who believes it is her mother. Despite its financial success, the film received poor reviews from both critics and audiences, achieving a D+ rating on CinemaScore, similar to other films like Megalopolis and Hereditary.
With a production budget of approximately $19 million, Other Mommy represents yet another success for the horror genre and well-known producer Blumhouse Atomic Monster, which has also produced films like Backrooms and Obsession. The film's international debut in 50 different markets accrued a total of $45.2 million globally.
Jim Orr, Universal Pictures' head of domestic distribution, reported that the audience was evenly split by gender, with about two-thirds of viewers aged between 18 and 34 years. "No matter how you look at it, everybody turned out for it. It wasn’t just one particular demographic," Orr stated. "That usually is a very good sign."
The Social Reckoning's Lackluster Start
On the other hand, The Social Reckoning, which was one of the weekend's major releases, garnered an estimated $5.5 million from 2,606 North American theaters. Directed and written by Aaron Sorkin, the film revolves around a Facebook whistleblower who leaked damning documents to a Wall Street Journal reporter.
When considering The Social Network, which Sorkin wrote and which enjoyed a successful opening with over $22 million, the current movie's performance appears underwhelming. That earlier film grossed over $224 million worldwide and received multiple accolades, including eight Oscar nominations. In contrast, The Social Reckoning has so far received mixed-to-negative reviews and earned a B- CinemaScore. With an estimated production budget of around $30 million, excluding marketing and promotional costs, the outlook for Sorkin's latest movie is less optimistic.
Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Rentrak, noted that October is often a month where studios take risks that do not always pay off. "These movies that are topical in nature sometimes resonate with the culture, sometimes they don’t," Dergarabedian commented. He drew comparisons to Digger, which experienced a significant drop in its second weekend.
Box Office Overview
The Social Reckoning struggled against several films that continued to perform well in theaters. The Anne Hathaway-led psychological thriller Verity secured second place with $11.5 million, down 64% from its opening weekend. Following it, Resident Evil added $8.4 million, raising its domestic total to $138.5 million. In fourth place, Brad Pitt's survival thriller Heart of the Beast collected $7.1 million, while Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, now in its 13th weekend, returned to the top ten with a total of $2 million, bringing its domestic total to nearly $623 million after expanding to 12 IMAX 70 mm locations.
This weekend also saw several high-profile films released in limited markets. The Cannes Palme d'Or winner Fjord opened in four theaters, earning $124,000, while Alex Gibney's documentary on Elon Musk, simply titled Musk, grossed $68,900 from four locations. Chris Rock's latest project, Misty Green, brought in $85,716 from six locations through Sunday.
Notably, the annual domestic box office has surpassed the $8 billion benchmark as of Friday, marking a 19% increase from the previous year and approximately 8% below the record set in 2019.
Top 10 Movies by Domestic Box Office
As of the weekend, the following list reflects estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters:
- Other Mommy, $27.5 million
- Verity, $11.5 million
- Resident Evil, $8.4 million
- Heart of the Beast, $7.1 million
- The Social Reckoning, $5.5 million
- Forgotten Island, $4.5 million
- Primetime, $4 million
- Digger, $3.2 million
- Angel and the Badman, $2.1 million
- The Odyssey, $2 million
Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press
