Other Mommy Opens to 28 Million Dollars and a D Plus CinemaScore That Says Audiences Wanted Different Horror

Jessica Chastain's "Other Mommy" won the domestic box office in its opening weekend with a projected $28 million haul, but the victory came with a caveat that studio executives can't ignore: audiences gave the supernatural thriller a D+ CinemaScore, one of the lowest grades ever recorded for a wide-release horror film from a major studio. Universal Pictures opened the film in 3,365 North American theaters on October 9, banking on Chastain's star power and the pre-Halloween corridor to deliver a genre win—and the opening weekend numbers suggest they got it, even if viewers left theaters feeling something closer to disappointment than dread.

Deadline reported on October 10 that "Other Mommy" is now tracking toward a $28 million opening, enough to top the domestic chart and beat second-place holder "Verity," which held onto its runner-up position from the previous weekend. The film pulled in $12.6 million from its Friday debut alone, according to Hollywood Outbreak, giving Universal confidence that the weekend total would land in the high twenties despite early word-of-mouth concerns stemming from Thursday night preview screenings.

When a Number One Opening Feels Like a Warning

The D+ CinemaScore represents one of the most dramatic audience-critic disconnects of 2026. Hollywood Reporter noted that "Other Mommy" will win the box office "despite" the dismal audience grade, a phrasing that captures the unusual situation where a film succeeds commercially while failing to satisfy the people who paid to see it. CinemaScore polls moviegoers immediately after they exit theaters, making it a real-time measure of whether a film delivered what audiences expected—and a D+ says this one did not.

Screen Rant reported that the film's opening weekend is "even bigger than 2026's smash hit Obsession," framing the $28 million debut as a box office record breaker in the post-summer horror landscape. But the CinemaScore qualifier changes the narrative: "Other Mommy" attracted a large opening crowd, but those viewers are now telling their friends to skip it. In an era where word-of-mouth spreads instantly via social media, a D+ grade typically predicts steep second-weekend drops as early adopters warn others away.

The film cost only $18 million to produce, according to Comic Basics' coverage of the opening, which means Universal will likely turn a profit even if the theatrical run collapses after week one. The studio had "plenty of reasons to feel confident heading into the weekend," including a trailer that played in front of "The Odyssey" in July and reached millions of summer moviegoers. That confidence now looks misplaced: getting audiences into theaters for opening weekend is a marketing win, but keeping them happy enough to recommend the film is a creative requirement that "Other Mommy" failed to meet.

Jessica Chastain and the Doppelganger Horror Nobody Wanted

Director Rob Savage adapted Josh Malerman's novel into a supernatural thriller centered on a mother's doppelganger stalking her family, a premise that review coverage described as "demonic Jessica Chastain" failing basic parenting tasks like cooking pasta correctly. Yahoo Entertainment's first trailer breakdown noted that Chastain's character "places the pasta directly in the pot and turns the flame on underneath without any water," asking whether the character is "some sort of idiot" or whether the scene signals deeper horror themes. Based on the D+ CinemaScore, audiences decided it was the former.

Hollywood Reporter's box office analysis projected a $20 million opening before the weekend, but Universal's aggressive 3,365-theater rollout pushed the actual total toward $28 million. The gap between expectations and results would normally be a cause for celebration—until the audience scores came in. A D+ CinemaScore doesn't just predict bad legs; it suggests that the core horror audience who turned out opening weekend felt actively let down by what they saw.

The Aaron Sorkin-directed "The Social Reckoning" finished in fifth place with a projected $6 million opening, according to Deadline's box office tracking, giving "Other Mommy" an easy path to the top spot in a weekend with no major blockbuster competition. But winning a weak weekend with a film that audiences graded D+ is the kind of victory that creates long-term problems for a studio trying to build franchises and recurring box office performers.

The Post-Halloween Corridor That Turned Toxic

The Nerdy Humourist's preview coverage called October 9 "a classic Blumhouse play," landing the film in the weekend before the mid-October corridor and giving it "a clear runway into Halloween itself." That runway now looks more like a cliff: the film opened strong but faces a second weekend where the D+ CinemaScore will have permeated social media feeds and group chats, warning potential viewers that this horror entry doesn't deliver the scares or satisfaction that the October audience expects.

Hollywood Outbreak's box office update noted that "Other Mommy looks like the horror genre's next box office win," but that assessment came before the CinemaScore was revealed to the public. A D+ grade isn't just bad—it's historically rare for wide releases from major studios, putting "Other Mommy" in the company of infamous horror misfires that won their opening weekends and then collapsed under their own audience rejection.

Universal Pictures got the opening weekend they wanted: a number one finish that beat projections and delivered a healthy return on an $18 million production budget. But the D+ CinemaScore says that the audience who showed up on October 9 won't be back, won't bring friends, and won't recommend "Other Mommy" to anyone who asks if it's worth seeing. In horror, where word-of-mouth can make or break a film's second weekend, that's the kind of victory that studios learn to regret.