Weekend Box Office: Other Mommy Delivers One of the Year's Biggest Horror Debuts

Jessica Chastain's latest horror film opened with $27.5 million despite a weak critical response. The result gives it the fourth-largest horror opening of 2026 so far.

Updated October 12, 2026 | Box Office News

Other Mommy Leads a Strong Weekend for Horror

Universal's decision to keep Other Mommy away from critics before its release did little to discourage audiences. The horror film, directed by Rob Savage, attracted moviegoers with its unsettling trailers and a promise of relentless jump scares. The result was a $27.5 million domestic opening, making it one of the year's strongest launches for the genre.

Savage first gained attention with Host, a horror film made during the pandemic, before directing Dashcam and Stephen King's adaptation The Boogeyman. The latter opened to $12.3 million in 2023 and eventually earned more than $43 million domestically. For Other Mommy, Savage joined forces with Blumhouse and James Wan's Atomic Monster.

The new release now ranks fourth among horror openings of 2026, behind Backrooms ($81.4 million), Scream 7 ($63.6 million) and Resident Evil ($60.1 million).

Its debut falls short of the biggest October horror openings on record. Five Nights at Freddy's leads that group with $80 million, followed by Halloween (2018) at $76.2 million. Other major October launches include Paranormal Activity 2, Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends.

Early reviews have been harsh. Only 19% of critics gave Other Mommy a positive rating, while CinemaScore audiences assigned it a D+. Nevertheless, the opening suggests that the film's marketing found an audience willing to see it for themselves.

It also established a notable box-office milestone: according to the report, no film previously receiving a D+ CinemaScore had opened as strongly. Among the earlier examples of films with that grade were Alexander, Hereditary, Jaws 3-D and Battlefield Earth. The contrast between audience reactions and critical opinion remains one of the weekend's more interesting talking points.

With a reported production budget of $19 million and approximately $45 million in worldwide ticket sales already collected, Other Mommy is in a strong financial position. Its performance through the Halloween season will determine how far it can go beyond its opening weekend.

Verity Holds Second Place as The Social Reckoning Struggles

Colleen Hoover's latest big-screen adaptation, Verity, remained near the top of the chart in its second weekend. Starring Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson, the thriller has earned $53.8 million domestically after ten days.

Its performance trails some previous October releases, including Annabelle, which collected $61.6 million over its first ten days, and Blade Runner 2049, which reached $60.9 million over the same period. Current projections put Verity on course for a domestic finish of approximately $72 million to $82 million. Its international earnings have already added another $60 million, helping the film approach twice its production budget.

Meanwhile, Resident Evil continues to show considerable staying power. Zach Cregger's horror release brought in approximately $8.3 million during its fourth weekend, taking its domestic total to around $138.5 million. That puts it close to The Sixth Sense, which had earned $138.8 million domestically at a comparable point in its theatrical run.

The film remains on track for a domestic finish between $150 million and $155 million. Worldwide earnings have passed $320 million, placing it among a relatively small group of horror releases to reach that level since 1995.

Heart of the Beast Keeps Drawing Crowds

Brad Pitt's Heart of the Beast continues to attract moviegoers, although its financial prospects remain less certain. The film earned approximately $7.1 million in its third weekend, bringing its 17-day domestic total to $49.6 million.

The result is comparable to Deepwater Horizon, which earned $49.3 million domestically after 17 days in theaters. Current expectations put Heart of the Beast slightly above $60 million in North America. Its worldwide total has already exceeded $131 million, although the film's reported $85 million production budget leaves its overall profitability dependent on additional revenue and distribution costs.

Aaron Sorkin's The Social Reckoning has faced a much tougher start. The follow-up to David Fincher's The Social Network collected just $5.5 million in its opening weekend. Sorkin returns to the story surrounding Mark Zuckerberg, this time directing the film himself.

The reception has been noticeably weaker than that of its predecessor. The Social Network opened to $22.4 million in October 2010 and eventually earned nearly $97 million domestically, while winning an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. The original also holds a 96% critics' score on the Tomatometer, compared with 54% for The Social Reckoning.

The new film's opening is also behind several recent October releases, including Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, which debuted at $8.8 million. Its final domestic total could remain below $15.6 million, the amount earned by Anora during its entire theatrical run.

Forgotten Island Continues to Disappoint

Universal and DreamWorks' Forgotten Island has struggled to find an audience. The animated film earned another $4.5 million in its third weekend, lifting its domestic total to $30.2 million after 17 days.

The result is similar to the third-weekend performances of The Angry Birds Movie 2 and PAW Patrol: The Movie. Both finished their third weekends with domestic totals close to $30 million before eventually passing $40 million. Whether Forgotten Island can follow that path remains uncertain. Its worldwide box office has only recently crossed $50 million.

A24's Primetime, directed by Lance Oppenheim, is performing considerably better. The documentary about Chris Hansen earned $4 million in its third weekend, reaching $41.4 million domestically after 17 days.

That figure places it among A24's ten highest-grossing domestic releases. It also gives the film the fourth-largest 17-day domestic total in the distributor's history, ahead of The Drama, which has earned $39.6 million. Primetime is approaching the $50 million mark and could move into A24's top five domestic releases if its current run continues.

Digger Faces a Steep Second-Weekend Drop

Alejandro G. Iñárritu's Digger, starring Tom Cruise, fell by approximately 60% in its second weekend, earning $3.2 million. Its domestic total now stands at roughly $14 million, while worldwide earnings remain at $35.3 million.

The decline is unusually steep for a Cruise release. Several of his previous films, including Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, The Mummy and American Made, earned between $3 million and $4 million in their fourth weekends but benefited from stronger international results and comparatively smaller budgets.

Digger appears unlikely to reach $20 million domestically, a level surpassed by almost all of Cruise's other theatrical releases. The weak domestic performance puts additional pressure on the film's international box office.

Warner Bros.' Practical Magic 2 also dropped out of the top ten. The sequel added $1.3 million, bringing its domestic total to $67.2 million and its worldwide gross to $103.2 million against a reported production budget of $75 million.

Angel and the Badman Enters the Top Ten

Zachary Levi returned to theaters with Angel and the Badman, a remake of the 1947 Western starring John Wayne. Released by Angel Studios, the film earned $2.06 million in its opening weekend.

That was a stronger start than Levi's previous release, The Fix, which has collected approximately $1.18 million to date. Levi now takes on the role of Quirt Evans, a character previously portrayed by Wayne and later by Lou Diamond Phillips in a Hallmark Channel adaptation.

Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey also returned to the domestic top ten after reclaiming several IMAX screens. The film added $2 million, bringing its North American total to approximately $622.9 million. It is approaching the domestic total of Marvel's The Avengers and has now earned $1.779 billion worldwide.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day Leaves the Top Ten

Although Spider-Man: Brand New Day has fallen out of the top ten, the film continues to generate ticket sales. It added another $1.5 million, raising its domestic total to $956.8 million and its worldwide gross to $2.513 billion.

The re-release of Avengers: Endgame also remained in theaters, earning $1.4 million over the weekend. Its cumulative totals have climbed above $39 million domestically and nearly $138 million worldwide.

Fathom Entertainment marked the 20th anniversary of Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth with a theatrical re-release in 1,168 locations. The film earned $1.66 million. A re-release of 9 to 5, following the reported passing of Dolly Parton, generated approximately $150,000 from 1,275 theaters.

Neon's documentary Musk, directed by Alex Gibney, earned an estimated $68,900 across four theaters. The four-hour release, including a ten-minute intermission, joins a small group of lengthy theatrical films that have received limited or wide releases over the years.

Neon also opened Cristian Mungiu's Fjord, starring Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve. The film earned $124,000 in four theaters.

Chris Rock's latest directorial project, Misty Green, collected $85,000 from six locations. Its Tomatometer score stands at 59%, and a planned expansion will offer a clearer indication of its commercial prospects.

What to Watch at the Box Office Next Weekend

The theatrical calendar is getting busier as October continues. Whalefall, from 20th Century Studios, stars Austin Abrams in a survival story involving a massive whale. Paramount is launching a new adaptation of the Street Fighter video game, while Focus Features brings a fresh version of Sense and Sensibility to theaters.

Horror fans will also have Crawlers to look forward to from Roadside Attractions. A24 is releasing Nathan Fielder's documentary You Can See Everything, which examines Elizabeth Holmes. Warner Bros., meanwhile, is giving Ken Russell's The Devils a wide theatrical release in a restored 4K version.

With several major releases arriving, the coming weekend should provide a clearer picture of which October films can maintain their momentum and which are likely to lose ground.

Weekend Box Office Results: October 9–11, 2026

Rank	Film	Weekend Gross	Domestic Total
1	Other Mommy	$27.5M	$27.5M
2	Verity	$11.4M	$53.8M
3	Resident Evil	$8.3M	$138.5M
4	Heart of the Beast	$7.1M	$49.6M
5	The Social Reckoning	$5.5M	$5.5M
6	Forgotten Island	$4.5M	$30.2M
7	Primetime	$4.0M	$41.4M
8	Digger	$3.2M	$14.0M
9	Angel and the Badman	$2.06M	$2.06M
10	The Odyssey	$2.0M	$622.9M