LOS ANGELES — Jessica Chastain’s Other Mommy opened to an estimated $27.5 million at the North American box office, five times the debut of Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Reckoning, as a low-budget horror release drew a bigger audience than expected despite poor audience scores.
Sunday’s studio estimates put Universal’s supernatural thriller first and Sony Pictures’ Facebook whistleblower drama fifth. The contrast was not simply one of ticket sales: Other Mommy cost around $19 million to produce, while The Social Reckoning carried a reported production budget of roughly $30 million. Neither figure includes the full cost of marketing and distribution.
The figures cover Friday through Sunday in the United States and Canada. Final domestic grosses are due Monday, so the rankings and dollar amounts remain estimates, ABC News reported in an Associated Press dispatch.
Other Mommy played in 3,365 theaters and opened in 50 international markets, taking its worldwide launch to $45.2 million. Its North American opening alone exceeded its reported production budget, though ticket revenue is shared with exhibitors and should not be confused with studio profit.
The result extends a strong year for Universal Pictures. For producer Blumhouse Atomic Monster, it offers another commercially strong horror opening alongside a much less reassuring signal about how audiences responded after buying their tickets.
The film received a D+ CinemaScore. That audience grade sits alongside poor critical reviews, including a harsh one in The Hollywood Reporter, and complicates any assumption that a successful first weekend guarantees a long theatrical run. Opening grosses measure immediate demand; the next weekend will provide the first substantial test of whether that demand lasts.
Universal’s domestic distribution chief Jim Orr said the audience was evenly split by gender, with about two-thirds aged between 18 and 34. “No matter how you look at it, everybody turned out for it. It wasn’t just one particular demographic,” Orr told the AP. “That usually is a very good sign.”
Chastain plays dual roles in a story about a supernatural creature that terrorizes a young girl who believes it is her mother. Universal’s official movie site lists the film’s October 9 theatrical opening. The commercial promise now rests on whether the premise can keep drawing viewers despite the audience grade.
The Social Reckoning opened in 2,606 North American theaters and earned an estimated $5.5 million. Sorkin wrote and directed the film, which follows a Facebook whistleblower who passes incriminating documents to a Wall Street Journal reporter. Its cast includes Mikey Madison, Jeremy Allen White and Jeremy Strong.
The film received mixed-to-negative critical reviews and a B- CinemaScore. That grade was better than the horror film’s, but it did not translate into a comparable opening. The weekend illustrates why reviews, audience polling and box-office receipts need to be treated as separate measures rather than interchangeable verdicts.
Comparisons with The Social Network are unavoidable. Sorkin wrote that film, which David Fincher directed, and it opened to more than $22 million sixteen years ago. It eventually earned more than $224 million worldwide, received eight Oscar nominations and won three.
Those historical receipts are not adjusted for inflation, and the two films entered different theatrical markets. Even with that qualification, the new film’s opening leaves a considerable distance to travel before matching its predecessor’s commercial trajectory. An opening weekend cannot settle its awards prospects or eventual earnings.
Paul Dergarabedian, Rentrak’s head of marketplace trends, said October gives studios room to take chances. “These movies that are topical in nature, sometimes they resonate with the culture, sometimes they don’t,” he said. “You don’t always know what’s going to connect with audiences.”
The holdovers were led by Anne Hathaway’s psychological thriller Verity, which finished second with $11.5 million, a 64 percent decline from its opening. Resident Evil followed with $8.4 million, bringing the Zach Cregger film’s domestic total to $138.5 million.
Brad Pitt’s Heart of the Beast placed fourth with $7.1 million. Its position ahead of The Social Reckoning meant Sorkin’s new release opened behind three films already in theaters, not just the weekend’s new horror title.
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey returned to the top ten in its thirteenth weekend. A renewed presence at 12 IMAX 70mm locations helped it take $2 million across 560 North American theaters, bringing its domestic total to just under $623 million.
The broader theatrical market had a stronger milestone to report. Annual domestic ticket sales crossed $8 billion on Friday and were more than 19 percent ahead of last year, according to Rentrak. They remained about 8 percent below 2019.
For this weekend’s two major newcomers, the immediate questions are different. Other Mommy must turn a strong launch into sustained attendance despite its D+ grade. The Social Reckoning needs to build an audience from a much smaller start. Monday’s final receipts will refine the numbers; subsequent weekends will determine how much those openings ultimately mean.
