Jessica Chastain has a horror hit on her hands.
Replacing Jesse Eisenberg with the more naturally menacing, taller and less ZuckerberglyJeremy Strong blows up in Aaron Sorkin’s face with his Facebook Takes a Hit sequel to “The Social Network,” “The Social Reckoning.”
And “Verity” proves to be a fall dramatic thriller with legs.
That’s the quick take-away from this second weekend in October at the movies.
Deadline.com reports that a robust Thursday night ($3.6) and healthy Friday “opening day” (adding another $8+) puts “Other Mommy” over $12 and on its way to a $27+ million opening weekend.
Horror movies are kind of critic proof, even in an era when highbrow horror and “smart” supernatural thrillers are thriving. “Other Mommy” isn’t all that with the critics. “Saw” producer James Wan just keeps those Blumhouse/Universal horror hits coming because that audience is getting back in the habit of going to the movies.
The second weekend of the new Colleen Hoover adaptation “Verity” is racking up another $13-15 million in second place, as the fall is shaping up to be one where established Oscar-winning actresses are getting work with box office potential, as Anne Hathaway (“Verity”) and Jessica Chastain (“Other Mommy”) are making movies that make bank.
The “Resident Evil” reboot is fading but still earning $7+ million this weekend, a $140 million or so hit that may top out at $160 or so when it finishes its run.
“Evil’s” latest weekend is neck and neck with Aaron Sorkin’s “Social Network” sequel, “The Social Reckoning,” which replaced its intense leading man with an even more intense one that looks less like Mark Zuckerberg. That’s adding up to a $7 million or so weekend, with “Evil” and “Reckoning” taking third and fourth places.
As “Reckoning” is about the evils of Facebook being exposed and subject to massive lawsuits, it’s also a harder sell. Hundreds of millions still use Big Brother Meta’s data-mining/viewer-manipulating addiction.
So maybe people aren’t in the mood for a movie that isn’t even getting good reviews or anything like Oscar buzz. That’s what happened with “Digger,” which is fast fading to black.
Has everybody uninstalled the headspace-invading/voter-manipulating app from your phone? That’s the easiest way to cut back on usage without giving up the few actual “connections” we get out of it, I find. Just load the website whenever you want to check in, and resist the urge to compulsively reopen the app 60 times a day.
In sixth is the Brad Pitt and his Dog (with CGI wolves and moose) adventure “Heart of the Beast,” on pace to add another $6 million this weekend.
The fall disappointments “Digger,” “Primetime,” and the stumbling Angel Studios remake of “Angel and the Badman” are all in the latter half of the top ten.
“Forgotten Island” may cling to tenth, with “Practical Magic 2,” “Spider-Man 11” and “The Odyssey” sent packing. But we’ll know more as Saturday and Sunday’s data comes in. Check back in as I’ll update this when it does.
