The weekend’s scariest opening is outperforming the weekend’s most prestigious one. Other Mommy, a horror film toplined by Jessica Chastain, collected a strong $3.6 million from Thursday previews starting at 2 p.m. across 2,850 theaters, before expanding to 3,365 screens for its opening day.
The film comes from director Rob Savage and is produced by James Wan’s Atomic Monster alongside Blumhouse — two of the most reliable brands in modern horror. Chastain plays the mother of a young girl, played by Arabella Olivia Clark, around whom the film’s supernatural dread gathers. Horror has repeatedly proven the most dependable theatrical genre of the post-pandemic era, and modest-budget entries from these producers have a habit of turning preview-night enthusiasm into profitable runs.
By contrast, the adult drama The Social Reckoning managed about $650,000 in previews. Both films are chasing Verity, the Colleen Hoover adaptation starring Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett, which scored a $62.1 million worldwide debut — the author’s second-best global opening — and sits atop the North American chart.
The weekend also brings a footnote for the record books at the other end of the chart: the Tom Cruise feature Digger, priced at a reported $160 million, opened to $8 million domestically — the star’s lowest opening in 19 years. In October 2026, it seems, audiences are choosing jump scares and page-turners over star power.
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