‘Other Mommy’ tops the box office with $27.5M; ‘The Social Reckoning’ opens to $5.5M

The Jessica Chastain horror “Other Mommy” topped the North American box office this weekend with a bigger audience than expected, while “The Social Reckoning” got off to a lackluster start.

“Other Mommy,” released by Universal Pictures, earned $27.5 million in its first few days in 3,365 theaters, according to studio estimates on Sunday. The movie, about a sinister supernatural creature that terrorizes a young girl who thinks it’s her mother, got dismal reviews from both critics and audiences. It also joins the ranks of “Megalopolis” and “Hereditary” with a D+ CinemaScore.

But with a production budget of around $19 million, it’s also another win for the horror genre and producer Blumhouse Atomic Monster, which was behind “Backrooms” and “Obsession.” “Other Mommy” opened in 50 international markets as well, boosting its global debut to $45.2 million.

Jim Orr, Universal’s head of domestic distribution, noted that the audience gender divide was evenly split and about 2/3 were between 18 and 34 years old.

“No matter how you look at it, everybody turned out for it. It wasn’t just one particular demographic,” Orr said. “That usually is a very good sign.”

“The Social Reckoning,” the weekend’s other big release, was not as lucky…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business