“Other Mommy,” the Jessica Chastain horror release, cost about $18 to $19 million to make and has already pulled in roughly $78.8 million worldwide, split between $44.9 million domestic and $33.9 million overseas. It’s profitable several times over, and the reviews didn’t matter.
The supernatural film opened October 9 through Universal to about $27.5 million domestic and around $45.2 million worldwide across 3,365 North American theaters and 50 international markets. Directed by Rob Savage and produced by James Wan through Blumhouse and Atomic Monster, it’s adapted from Josh Malerman’s 2024 novel “Incidents Around the House.”
In twin roles, Chastain is Ursula, a distracted working mother, along with the demonic entity that takes on her face to come after her young daughter, Bela (Arabella Olivia Clark). Jay Duplass plays the father.
Critics and audiences both rejected it. Critics on Rotten Tomatoes have it around 16 to 19%, audiences sit near 46%, and its D+ CinemaScore was a rare one, ranking among the lowest grades a wide release has gotten in years. The second weekend fell about 70% domestically, the kind of drop that comes from bad word-of-mouth.
Halloween timing, Chastain’s star power, Wan’s branding and a high-concept doppelgänger hook brought out the 18-to-34 crowd anyway, roughly two-thirds of the audience. That’s the Blumhouse formula working: lean budget, recognizable talent, a strong hook, and a profitable run even when the movie gets panned.
