Other Mommy is the head of the household at the box office in its opening weekend, while The Social Reckoning faces a tough status report.
Universal Pictures released Other Mommy in 3,200 North American theaters, and the horror title grossed $12.6 million Friday, including Thursday previews, as it heads to around $28 million for the weekend. Director Rob Savage’s film looks to end up above the studio’s projected $20 million opening for the $19 million-budgeted film, which stars Jessica Chastain as a sinister entity that appears in a young girl’s closet.
Word of mouth is unlikely to be in the movie’s favor, as it earned a woeful D+ CinemaScore from audiences, the lowest grade for a film since Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis in September 2024. Critical response has been similarly dismal, with Other Mommy holding a 19 percent approval rating from reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes, along with a 46 percent audience score. In his review for The Hollywood Reporter, critic Richard Lawson deemed the movie “an attractive but mostly vacuous collection of jumpy bits and half-baked mythology.”
The launch for Sony Pictures’ The Social Reckoning is even softer than expected, as director Aaron Sorkin‘s Facebook-focused feature notched $2.1 million Friday, including Thursday previews, for a start of roughly $6 million. This is slightly below the $7 million the studio expected for the fact-based thriller starring Mikey Madison, Jeremy Allen White and Jeremy Strong, which follows a Facebook staffer (Madison) working with a journalist (White) to expose concerning truths about the company. The $30 million-budgeted movie launched in 2,606 North American locations.
Jeremy Allen White and Mikey Madison in The Social Reckoning.
Sony Pictures
After winning an Academy Award for penning the screenplay for 2010’s The Social Network, Sorkin replaces David Fincher in the director’s chair for the companion piece. Starring Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg in the story of Facebook’s early days, that film was a bona fide hit, opening at No. 1 with $22.4 million in October 2010 before an impressive run took it to $224 million globally. Strong portrays an older Zuckerberg in the new movie.
While The Social Network boasts a 96 Rotten Tomatoes score, critics have been mixed on the follow-up, as The Social Reckoning holds a 54 percent approval from reviewers and a 71 percent audience rating. In his review for THR, chief film critic David Rooney praised it as an “engrossing whistleblower thriller.”
Debuting in limited release from A24 was Chris Rock’s Misty Green, which nabbed $27,000 on Friday from six locations in New York and Los Angeles. Rosalind Eleazar, Adam Driver and Daniel Kaluuya star in the film that Rooney described as “the work of a mature director who knows what he wants to say.”
Rosalind Eleazar in Misty Green.
A24
Another specialty release hitting theaters was Alex Gibney’s Elon Musk-focused documentary Musk, with the Bleecker Street title collecting $28,000 on Friday from four screens.
Also launching theatrically was the documentary NAZA, earning $85,000 Friday from 72 North American locations. The Israeli-American Council organized a protest on Friday outside of the Laemmle NoHo 7 in North Hollywood, timed to the screening of the feature that examines Israel’s military operations in Gaza.
Looking to claim second place is Verity, Amazon MGM Studios’ Colleen Hoover adaptation that was last weekend’s winner. It is expected to gross around $14.2 million for a domestic cume of $56.5 million, marking a decline of roughly 56 percent in its sophomore frame. Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett star in filmmaker Michael Showalter’s thriller about a woman getting in over her head after landing a ghostwriting gig.
Sony’s Resident Evil eyes $8.2 million in its fourth frame to bring its total domestic take to roughly $138.3 million. Austin Abrams stars in Zach Cregger’s reboot of the franchise that adapts the video game property.
Paramount’s Heart of the Beast looks to add $6.7 million to bring its domestic total to $49.3 million in its third weekend. David Ayer’s thriller stars Brad Pitt as a Special Forces officer navigating the wilderness with his combat dog.