October belongs to horror, and this weekend the multiplex is proving it once again. Other Mommy, the new chiller from director Rob Savage, is set to finish its first three days at the top of the North American chart, while the much-discussed drama The Social Reckoning is having a far more muted start.
A small budget, a big opening
Universal put Other Mommy into about 3,200 theaters, and audiences answered quickly. The film took in around $12.6 million on Friday, a figure that already folds in its Thursday preview shows. Trade estimates now point to a weekend total near $28 million, comfortably ahead of the roughly $20 million the studio had been signaling in the run-up.
That is an excellent result for a production said to have cost about $19 million. In practical terms, the movie could earn back its budget before its first weekend is even over, which is exactly the kind of math that makes studios love mid-sized scares.
The premise taps a fear almost everyone remembers from childhood: the feeling that something might be living in the closet. Jessica Chastain plays the unsettling presence a young girl discovers there, and the marketing leaned hard on that simple, instantly understandable hook. Savage, who built a following with inventive low-budget frights, seems to have found a mainstream audience with this one.
A tougher weekend for Sorkin
The picture is less rosy for Sony’s The Social Reckoning. Aaron Sorkin’s fact-inspired thriller follows a Facebook employee, played by Mikey Madison, who teams up with a reporter, played by Jeremy Allen White, to bring troubling information about the company into the open. Jeremy Strong also appears.
The film managed about $2.1 million on Friday from 2,606 locations and looks headed for an opening around $6 million, slightly under Sony’s own forecast of $7 million. With a reported $30 million budget, it will need strong word of mouth and a long run with adult moviegoers, the audience that tends to show up later rather than on opening night.
What it means for the season
Meanwhile, holdovers such as the Colleen Hoover adaptation Verity continue to add to their totals. But the weekend story is clear: a tight, high-concept fright film with a familiar fear at its center beat a prestige drama with a starry cast. With Halloween still three weeks away, Other Mommy has plenty of runway to keep growing, and rival studios will be watching closely.