LOS ANGELES: Horror film Other Mommy, starring Oscar winner Jessica Chastain, debuted at the top of the North American box office with $27.5 million in ticket sales, while awards hopeful The Social Reckoning struggled in its opening weekend, industry estimates showed on Sunday.
Released by Universal and Blumhouse, Other Mommy features Chastain in a dual role, including a sinister entity that terrorises a child while resembling the girl’s mother.
The film topped the box office despite poor reviews and audience reception, according to industry analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.
“Horror movies are generally immune to a negative reception, but this is extreme, and business is going to drop sharply,” Gross said.
He added that the film’s premise, featuring a frightening, possessed mother played by Chastain, could attract international audiences before negative word of mouth affects its performance.
‘Verity’ takes second
Amazon MGM’s psychological thriller Verity, based on the novel by Colleen Hoover and starring Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson, fell from first to second place with $11.5 million in ticket sales.
Sony’s Resident Evil ranked third, earning $8.4 million over the weekend. Its North American total reached $138.5 million, while international earnings added another $181 million.
Paramount’s Heart of the Beast, starring Brad Pitt as a former soldier surviving in the Alaskan wilderness with his loyal but traumatised combat dog, finished fourth with $7.1 million.
‘Social reckoning’ disappoints
The Social Reckoning, the highly anticipated sequel to the 2010 film The Social Network, opened in fifth place with just $5.5 million.
Written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, the film stars Oscar winner Mikey Madison as Frances Haugen, the former Facebook employee who leaked internal company documents to a reporter, played by Jeremy Allen White.
Jeremy Strong portrays Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, a role Jesse Eisenberg played in the original film.
Gross said stories centred on corporate intrigue, wealth and power had increasingly found an audience on television, where they could lack the cinematic elements needed to draw viewers to theatres.
He argued that such films often struggle to deliver the emotion, spectacle and fantasy that attract big-screen audiences.
Rest of the top 10
The remaining films in the North American top 10 were Forgotten Island ($4.5 million), Primetime ($4 million), Digger ($3.2 million), Angel and the Badman ($2.1 million), and The Odyssey ($2 million).
