The Jessica Chastain horror “Other Mommy” topped the North American box office this weekend with a bigger audience than expected, while “The Social Reckoning” got off to a lackluster start.
“Other Mommy,” released by Universal Pictures, earned $27.5 million in its first few days in 3,365 theaters, according to studio estimates on Sunday. The movie, about a sinister supernatural creature that terrorizes a young girl who thinks it's her mother, got dismal reviews from both critics and audiences. It also joins the ranks of “Megalopolis” and “Hereditary” with a D+ CinemaScore.
But with a production budget of around $19 million, it’s also another win for the horror genre and producer Blumhouse Atomic Monster, which was behind “Backrooms” and “Obsession.” “Other Mommy” opened in 50 international markets as well, boosting its global debut to $45.2 million.
Jim Orr, Universal's head of domestic distribution, noted that the audience gender divide was evenly split and about 2/3 were between 18 and 34 years old.
“No matter how you look at it, everybody turned out for it. It wasn’t just one particular demographic,” Orr said. “That usually is a very good sign.”
“The Social Reckoning,” the weekend’s other big release, was not as lucky, earning an estimated $5.5 million from 2,606 North American theaters. Aaron Sorkin wrote and directed the film about a Facebook whistleblower who leaked incriminating documents to a Wall Street Journal reporter.
Sixteen years ago, “The Social Network,” which Sorkin wrote and David Fincher directed, opened to over $22 million and went on to gross over $224 million worldwide, receiving eight Oscar nominations and winning three. A similar fate might be a stretch for “The Social Reckoning,” which stars Mikey Madison, Jeremy Allen White and Jeremy Strong and received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics. Audiences gave it a B- CinemaScore. According to reports, the Sony Pictures release cost around $30 million to produce, not accounting for marketing and promotion.
Paul Dergarabedian, Rentrak’s head of marketplace trends, said October is a time when studios take chances and it doesn’t always work out.
“These movies that are topical in nature, sometimes they resonate with the culture, sometimes they don’t,” said Dergarabedian. “You don’t always know what’s going to connect with audiences.”
He compared “The Social Reckoning” to “Digger,” which fell 60% in its second weekend.
“The Social Reckoning” opened behind several holdovers as well. The Anne Hathaway psychological thriller “Verity” took second place with $11.5 million, down 64% from its opening weekend. In third place, “Resident Evil” added $8.4 million, bringing its domestic total to $138.5 million. The Brad Pitt survival thriller “Heart of the Beast” took fourth with $7.1 million.
Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey ” also made an encore appearance in the top 10 in its 13th weekend in theaters where it was back in 12 IMAX 70 mm locations. It added $2 million from 560 North American theaters, bringing its domestic total just shy of $623 million.
Several high-profile films opened in limited release this weekend as well. The Cannes Palme d’Or winner “Fjord” debuted on four screens this weekend where it made $124,000. Alex Gibney’s Elon Musk documentary “Musk,” which runs nearly four hours, made $68,900 from four locations. And Chris Rock’s “Misty Green” made $85,716 from six locations through Sunday.
The annual domestic box office crossed the $8 billion mark on Friday and is up over 19% from last year. According to Rentrak, that’s about 8% behind 2019.
With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak:
1. “Other Mommy,” $27.5 million.
2. “Verity,” $11.5 million.
3. “Resident Evil,” $8.4 million.
4. “Heart of the Beast,” $7.1 million.
5. “The Social Reckoning,” $5.5 million.
6. “Forgotten Island,” $4.5 million.
7. “Primetime,” $4 million.
8. “Digger,” $3.2 million.
9. “Angel and the Badman,” $2.1 million.
10. “The Odyssey,” $2 million.
Jason Blum, from left, director Rob Savage, Arabella Olivia Clark, Jessica Chastain, and Jay Duplass arrive at the premiere of "Other Mommy" on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, at the Universal Cinema AMC at CityWalk Hollywood in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Jessica Chastain arrives at the premiere of "Other Mommy" on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, at the Universal Cinema AMC at CityWalk Hollywood in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
CAIRO (AP) — A projectile struck a passenger terminal at the international airport in Riyadh on Sunday, a day after a missile hit the same terminal and killed 12 people, the Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said. The Houthis claimed responsibility for those attacks and others.
Saudi authorities said there were injuries in the latest attack on the King Khalid International Airport complex for terminals 3 and 4 for domestic flights. Saturday’s missile attack was the deadliest in a Gulf Arab nation since the Iran war began, with another 300 people wounded, some critically. The airport was still closed Sunday.
The sharp escalation in the new front in the war threatens to draw in greater U.S. military involvement, as President Donald Trump has said he is weighing joining the fight against the Houthis. There was no immediate White House comment Sunday.
The latest strike in Riyadh came shortly after the Houthis said the airport in the rebel-held Yemeni capital of Sanaa had been struck again, and blamed the Saudis.
At stake, again, in this escalation are global supplies and prices of oil as well as commercial shipping through a crucial alternative waterway to the Iran-threatened Strait of Hormuz — along with civilians and aviation throughout the region.
Trump on Saturday also said he planned to speak with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has been seeking assistance.
A U.S. intervention could prompt the Houthis to halt shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea off Yemen and further restrict the flow of oil out of the Persian Gulf. The rebels seized key areas along the strait last month and the Saudi-led coalition has been trying to seize them back.
Saudi Arabia is running low on missile interceptors and has asked France, Britain, Pakistan and Egypt to deploy air defense support to the region, regional officials told The Associated Press last month, with one noting that the U.S. has seen its own stock dwindle during the war with Iran.
Sunday’s attack occurred as the Saudis hosted a major international energy conference in Riyadh, with other high-profile events including an investment gathering on the horizon. Saudi Arabia under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has sought to open more to the world as a business and tourism destination, but the Houthi attacks threaten those efforts.
“There is no way that somebody will break our back. We are like a phoenix, we come out of the ashes all the time,” the Saudi energy minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud, told the conference.
He added that the kingdom is also working on pipelines in addition to the East-West one that was attacked and closed for days last month, with no details.
Earlier Sunday, the Houthi-run health ministry said a child was killed and six people wounded in a suspected Saudi airstrike on a house in Sanaa. The ministry also said 91 Yemenis have been killed by the Saudi-led coalition in five weeks, 60% of them women and children.
There was no immediate comment from Saudi authorities on the claims.
On Sunday, the Houthis also claimed attacks on King Fahd Airport in the city of Damma, as well as oil and gas facilities in the kingdom's east. They have targeted the Riyadh airport, which has no military facilities, every day since Wednesday.
The rebels again warned “all airlines, experts, employees, workers and travelers against using Saudi airports and airspace, as they are vulnerable to attack and have become a theater of operations for our forces." Several international airlines have suspended flights for varying periods.
Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, the group’s military spokesperson, wrote on X that airports in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, however, were exempt. The kingdom earlier called Mecca a “red line.”
A Saudi statement said the dead in Saturday's attack included four Saudi citizens, two Bangladeshi nationals, a Palestinian, a U.S. citizen, an Egyptian, a Jordanian, a Syrian and a Sudanese.
The Egyptian woman was a flight attendant identified as Azza Ramzy, who worked for Saudi airline Flynas, according to Egyptian state-run TV.
The Syrian woman was a widowed mother of four who had been living in Saudi Arabia for five years, relative Nisreen Oweida told The Associated Press. The Syrian Embassy identified her as Buthaina Ahmad Oweida.
Until recently, the Houthis had been largely on the sidelines of the Iran war, but they have developed their military capabilities in recent years to become one of Tehran's most powerful allies. Now, the rebels are helping Iran to pressure a key U.S. ally.
The Saudis and the Houthis began fighting in 2015, when the kingdom entered Yemen’s civil war on behalf of the internationally recognized government. Relative calm after a 2022 ceasefire ended in July when the Houthis resumed attacks, saying the Saudis fired on the Sanaa airport as a plane from Iran was trying to land.
That revived anger over the Saudi-led blockade that has largely isolated Houthi-run areas. The Houthis say they have now imposed a blockade on Saudi Arabia.
Fighting has escalated, with the Saudi-led coalition providing air support for Yemeni government forces attempting to reverse recent Houthi gains near the Bab el-Mandeb, a crucial alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has been attacking ships.
But Ahmed Nagi, the International Crisis Group’s senior analyst for Yemen, said the Houthi pressure tactics could backfire. “Rather than pushing Riyadh to step back, attacks on critical Saudi infrastructure could make the Saudis more determined to continue the campaign,” he said.
A previous version of this report has been corrected to show that the Egyptian killed in the strike was a woman, not a man.
Frankel and Anna reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Victoria Eastwood in Cairo, Collin Binkley in Washington, Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut and Omar Albam in Maarat al-Numan, Syria, contributed to this report.
People gather outside a metro station on the road to King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo)
People gather outside a metro station on the road to King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo)
This image from video obtained and verified by AP shows thick black smoke and flames rising from a fire at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Friday, Oct. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)
