‘Other Mommy’ Opens to $27.5 Million at Box Office Amid Poor Reviews

Universal/Blumhouse-Atomic Monster's "Other Mommy" is currently leading the box office with a $27.5 million opening weekend during a period where it is the sole film generating more than $12 million. Sony/Columbia/Alcon's "The Social Reckoning" has struggled, only making less than a third of the opening weekend of its predecessor, "The Social Network."

Made on a $19 million budget, "Other Mommy" stars Jessica Chastain as a mother who uncovers a malevolent double of herself haunting her child. The film is on track to meet its low break-even point both domestically and internationally, having earned $17.6 million from overseas markets. However, "Other Mommy" has received negative reviews and audience scores, including a D+ on CinemaScore, the lowest rating since Francis Ford Coppola's "Megalopolis" two years ago.

This has led to significant drops in box office performance, similar to what has been seen with Warner Bros./Legendary's "Digger" and Amazon MGM's "Verity," which both received C+ CinemaScores and are experiencing second weekend declines of over 60 percent. Additionally, "Other Mommy" will face competition from Halloween horror releases and upcoming titles like "Clayface," a DC Studios "Batman" villain film.

Meanwhile, "The Social Reckoning" is performing poorly, grossing just $5.5 million domestically this weekend, placing it at No. 5 on the box office rankings ahead of "Forgotten Island," a Universal/DreamWorks animated flick with $4.5 million. Compared to Aaron Sorkin's earlier film about Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, "The Social Network," which opened to $22.6 million in the fall of 2010, "The Social Reckoning" is facing a tough box office outlook.

The mixed critical reception has not helped its cause, with a B- CinemaScore and Rotten Tomatoes scores of 56% from critics and 73% from audiences. Fortunately for Sony, the film's reported net budget is around $30 million, with co-financier Alcon helping to mitigate any losses from this underwhelming debut. With poor word-of-mouth hurting the legs of several films, and Hurricane Isaias keeping moviegoers in the Southeast U.S. away from theaters on the weekend, theatrical business is gradually declining, with overall box office totals expected to fall between $88-90 million this weekend.

Still, this marks a 24% increase compared to last year's $71 million total when "Tron: Ares" was the top-grossing film, and no other titles earned more than $10 million during the sixth week of "The Conjuring: Last Rites." Among holdovers, "Verity" has dropped to $11.5 million in its second weekend, with a domestic total of $53.8 million.

Amazon MGM attributes the 64% decline to the hurricane's impact, as the film has overperformed in the Southeast, but tepid audience reception due to a downer ending and lack of a steamy thriller is also contributing to its struggles. Globally, "Verity" has earned $113 million after two weeks in theaters, compared to its $40 million budget.

Sony/TriStar's "Resident Evil" is in third place with $8.3 million in its fourth weekend in theaters, also opening to $40.6 million in China, bringing its global total to $139 million domestic and $320 million worldwide. Paramount's "Heart of the Beast" holds fourth place with $7.1 million, bringing the thriller's domestic total to $49.8 million and global total to $131 million.

At the lower end of the charts, Angel's remake of the 1947 John Wayne western "Angel and the Badman" starring Tommy Lee Jones and Zachary Levi has struggled, earning just $2 million from 2,263 locations, just inside the top 10. With a B+ CinemaScore and 23% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes from 13 reviews, the film has a slim chance of climbing higher in the rankings.

Finally, "Digger" made $3.2 million domestically and $9.6 million worldwide in its second weekend, totaling $35.3 million globally. Despite the bleak outlook for "Digger," Alejandro G. Iñárritu's Brechtian satire has garnered a following among cinephiles on Letterboxd and social media, but the film is still on track to become one of the worst box office bombs in recent memory.