(Photos: Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures)
Oscar winner Jessica Chastain’s Other Mommy topped the North American box office last weekend with a solid $27.5 million debut. The film earned another $17.7 million internationally, bringing its worldwide opening to approximately $45.2 million. With a relatively modest production budget of around $19 million, distributor Universal Pictures and producer Blumhouse Atomic Monster should be able to move the film toward profitability quickly.
Although Other Mommy has received dismal reviews from critics and audiences alike, horror movies have traditionally been less vulnerable to negative reception at the box office. Since this was also its opening weekend and word of mouth had not yet spread completely, the low-budget release still delivered an easily profitable start.
(Photo: Sony Pictures)
The Social Reckoning, the companion film to The Social Network, also opened to less-than-ideal reviews during the same weekend, but its box office performance was substantially worse. The film earned only $5.5 million in North America, placing fifth for the weekend. It added $3.5 million overseas for a worldwide opening of $9 million. Its entire global debut was not even half of the roughly $22 million that the original film earned in North America alone during its opening weekend. Market analysts generally believe the film had considerably less appeal because none of the original cast returned, its central character was recast and David Fincher was no longer directing.
Among the weekend’s holdovers, the $40 million thriller Verity remained in second place with approximately $11.48 million in its second weekend, bringing its worldwide total to $113 million. The new Resident Evil held third place in its fourth weekend with approximately $8.35 million. Produced for around $75 million, the film has now surpassed $320 million worldwide. Both releases are on course to conclude their theatrical runs as clear commercial successes.