‘Other Mommy’ Box Office: Columbus Day Boost Falls Short as Bad Word of Mouth Bites
A holiday Monday is usually a gift for a horror movie. Schools are closed, theaters fill with teens, and a hit can soften its first big weekday drop. ‘Other Mommy‘ got that boost, but not as much as it might have under better circumstances.
Jessica Chastain’s R-rated horror film stayed at number 1 on Columbus Day, earning $2.9 million on the Monday holiday. That figure is down 54.4% from Sunday, a steeper drop than several recent horror hits managed on similar days. Its domestic total now stands at $30.7 million after 4 days in theaters.
The comparison is revealing. Box office watchers noted that ‘Scream 5’ earned $3.8 million on its holiday Monday, down 40.6%, while ‘The Black Phone’ made $3.1 million, down 47.8%, and ‘Long Legs’ took in $2.7 million, down 48.5%. Only ‘The Exorcist: Believer’, which earned $2.4 million and fell 57.8%, dropped further. The pattern suggests that poor word of mouth is limiting how much ‘Other Mommy’ can capitalize on the day off.
Terrible WOM prevented R-rated horror #OtherMommy starring #JessicaChastain to benefit from #ColumbusDay boost as much as it would otherwise at US #BoxOffice! The horror was still #1 with a 2.9M MON holiday, but dropping -54.4% from SUN (vs #Scream5’s 3.8M, -40.6%, #TheBlackPhone 3.1M, -47.8%, #LongLegs 2.7M, -48.5%, #TheExorcistBeliever 2.4M, -57.8%) It hits a 30.7M US cume in 4 days. The biggest ace in Blumhouse’s sleeves is always keeping budget under control, and with a 19M production price tag not including marketing, #OtherMommy should have no trouble to make most of the investment back while still in theatres even if it crashes next weekend.
— Luiz Fernando (@Luiz_Fernando_J) October 13, 2026
The Monday numbers follow an opening that was strong by any measure. ‘Other Mommy’ debuted on October 9 in 3,365 theaters and earned $27.5 million, well above the roughly $20 million that most forecasts expected. It won the weekend and was the only film to make more than $12 million.
It also did so with some of the worst scores of the year. Audiences gave it a D+ CinemaScore, the lowest grade for a wide release since ‘Megalopolis’ in September 2024, and critics landed it at about 18% to 20% on Rotten Tomatoes. The audience score on the same site sits at around 46% to 47%.
Even so, the opening set a record of its own. According to Rotten Tomatoes, it is the highest opening weekend ever for a film that received a D+ from CinemaScore audiences, beating the previous highs held by ‘Alexander’, ‘Hereditary’, ‘Jaws 3-D’ and ‘Battlefield Earth’. It was also the fourth-best horror opening of the year, behind ‘Backrooms’, ‘Scream 7’ and ‘Resident Evil’.
The film earned $12.6 million on its opening day and added $17.69 million internationally, bringing its global total to $45.19 million after the first weekend. The opening audience split evenly by gender, with about two-thirds between the ages of 18 and 34. That is a young, horror-friendly crowd, but also one that tends to rush in early.
What keeps this from being a cautionary tale is the budget. The film was made for about $19 million, not including marketing, which is a hallmark of Blumhouse’s business model. With the first weekend alone covering most of that cost, the movie is already heading deep into profit territory.
That cost control is why even a steep drop does not threaten the film’s financial standing. As one analyst put it, the film should make most of its investment back while still in theaters, even if it crashes next weekend. In other words, the studio has built a cushion that bad reviews cannot easily erase.
‘Other Mommy’ was directed by Rob Savage and produced by Blumhouse-Atomic Monster with James Wan. Chastain plays Ursula and the creature wearing her face, a vicious doppelganger that haunts her daughter. Arabella Olivia Clark plays Bela, the 8-year-old girl at the center of the story.
Universal was reportedly reluctant to screen the film in advance for press, which is often a warning sign. Instead, the studio leaned on a marketing campaign built around spooky trailers, including one that turned a ball pit into an ocean of horror. The strategy worked well enough to get audiences into seats on opening weekend.
The real test is the second weekend. A D+ typically signals a steep drop, and other recent releases with weak audience scores, such as ‘Digger’ and ‘Verity’, fell more than 60% in their second weekends. If ‘Other Mommy’ follows the same trajectory, its run could be short.
New trailer for ‘OTHER MOMMY’, starring Jessica Chastain and Jessica Chastain. The film follows a young girl who is threatened by a sinister demon that looks exactly like her mother. In theaters on October 9. https://t.co/Xwu3FI6pYz
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) September 15, 2026
Still, the film has already accomplished the main goal of any low-budget horror release: it opened big, and it is already in the black. Whether it can build on that or fade quickly may depend on whether Halloween season gives it one more burst of interest.
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