Mommy Scares Up $3.6M While Social Reckoning Adds $650K
When the ball pit comes out, the scares are real, and the box office delivers a bang. Blumhouse’s latest maternal horror romp, Other Mommy, managed to scare up $3.6 million in Thursday preview screenings, proving that sometimes, pure, unadulterated fright still commands attention.
Directed by Rob Savage and starring Jessica Chastain, the film followed a sinister, shape-shifting entity that emerges from a young girl’s closet to terrorize a suburban family. Despite the success at the box office, the critical response proved far less enthusiastic. The movie sits at a harsh 18% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, cementing it as one of the year’s most critically undesirable wide releases.
The film cost a reported $19 million to produce before marketing, yet critics found that while Chastain delivered a commanding performance, the narrative itself struggled to connect. Reviewers noted that Other Mommy seemed to rely heavily on the familiar Blumhouse formula, prioritizing cheap jump scares over meaningful storytelling.
One critic summed up the experience by rating the movie a mediocre 5 out of 10. The critique suggested that despite promising trailers and top-notch visuals, the story felt like a constant letdown, focusing more on marketing tricks than genuine emotional connection with the audience.
Meanwhile, the box office presented a stark contrast in tone. Across the board, Aaron Sorkin’s corporate thriller, The Social Reckoning, grossed a modest $650,000 from its preview showings. The film, which cost $30 million to produce, opened across 2,600 North American screens.
While the corporate drama received a solid score, it didn’t generate the same visceral reaction as the horror film. Critics acknowledged that while the scenes set within the world of Facebook (or Meta) were masterful, the film didn’t achieve the legendary status of works like The Social Network.
The struggle for The Social Reckoning to capture a massive audience highlights a broader trend. Some viewers simply aren’t interested in paying top dollar to witness a dramatization of the billionaire class outside of unavoidable news coverage. The question remains whether this corporate reckoning will evolve from a box office curiosity into a lasting conversation piece.
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