WASHINGTON, October 13, 2026 – North American audiences filled movie theater seats this weekend and delivered Other Mommy, the psychological horror from Universal Studios, with a debut at No. 1 and a total of $27.5 million in domestic revenue. The horror film, which stars Jessica Chastain, debuted in 3,200 theaters, according to The Hollywood Reporter, while Awards Radar’s Comscore-powered chart reported 3,365 theaters with an $8,172 per-screen average.
In any case, the outcome beat expectations. For the $19 million-budgeted film, Universal Studios expected an opening weekend of $20 million, which Other Mommy comfortably eclipsed while earning another $16.7 million internationally for a total of $44.2 million worldwide.
This is important because fall movie theaters required something new. This weekend’s domestic box office receipts were estimated at around $88 million, up 23.6% from last year’s same weekend but still off by about 27% from the average of previous pre-pandemic fall weekends from 2017 to 2019.
A hit with a catch
Here’s the catch: audience and critic responses were not very positive. The other Mommy received a D+ CinemaScore, which is the worst possible grade for any movie since Megalopolis in September 2024, with a critics’ rating of 19% and an audience score of 46% on Rotten Tomatoes.
So how did it manage to beat out so many other films? The trailer. Universal attributes the early buzz of this film to its first trailer that was featured before the premiere of The Odyssey. It features Chastain as a demonic force that takes shape in the closet of a little girl – an intriguing enough idea for ticket buyers regardless of the actual quality of the film.
Universal also protected it from the critics until it was released to prevent any bad word-of-mouth before the paying audience could form their own opinion. The Hollywood Reporter’s Richard Lawson called it “an attractive but mostly vacuous collection of jumpy bits and half-baked mythology.” Ouch.
Horror keeps delivering
Opening night is just further evidence that horror continues to be one of the most reliable genres for theatrical entertainment, especially when dealing with originals. “Other Mommy” cost $19 million to make, but the movie earned back its production costs in one weekend; the real question is whether it will keep its audience beyond the opening-night buzz.
The historical precedent does not look promising. Titles from the horror genre that receive poor grades from audiences tend to drop quickly in their second weekend, and the D+ CinemaScore rating for the current film is a bad omen. But at least Universal and Blumhouse made sure that they had a profitable opening.
The rest of the chart
Colleen Hoover’s thriller Verity from Amazon MGM slumped to second place, earning $11.4 million, a nearly 64% fall that took its domestic total to $53.8 million. The Resident Evil movie by Sony raked in $8.3 million for its fourth weekend run and increased its domestic total to around $138.5 million, taking its global total to $320.2 million.
Heart of the Beast, a Paramount production, secured the fourth place with $7.1 million, increasing its domestic total to $49.6 million.
Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Reckoning was the other significant newcomer in the weekend but had quite an unenviable fate. It debuted in the fifth position, earning $5.5 million through 2,606 screens, far less than Sony’s estimate of $7 million.
What happens next?
Will Mommy Be Scary continue to rule during the Halloween period? Difficult to say. There are many positive things about it: good marketing, a nice time of year for a horror film, and an excellent opening, but one should be concerned about its rating among moviegoers.
In any case, Universal is currently happy. An intimidating trailer, the involvement of a famous actor, and a well-chosen release date were all that were needed for a critically panned horror movie to win the charts.
