Other Mommy release date and cast: Jessica Chastain leads the Bird Box author's story about a closet monster
The trailer made audiences at The Odyssey jump out of their seats, and Universal still wasn't eager to show the movie to critics.
Other Mommy opens in theaters on October 9, 2026. Jessica Chastain plays two roles: Ursula, mother of 8-year-old Bela (Arabella Olivia Clark), and the thing that lives in Bela's closet, an entity that looks and sounds exactly like her mom and goes by "Other Mommy." It's based on Incidents Around the House, the 2024 novel by Bird Box author Josh Malerman, and it's rated R, at a lean 93 minutes.
The people behind it have a solid horror résumé. Rob Savage (Host, The Boogeyman) directs from a script by Succession writer Nathan Elston, and James Wan produces through Blumhouse Atomic Monster. Jay Duplass plays Bela's dad, Russ, with Dichen Lachman, Arian Moayed, and Karen Allen in support. Universal originally dated the film for May 8, 2026, then pushed it into the Halloween run-up.
The trailer did its job
In July, Universal attached the trailer to The Odyssey, and the jump scare in it went viral. According to Boxoffice Pro, that gave tracking a real bump, with industry projections reaching as high as $35 million, but the momentum didn't last through the summer. Here's where the numbers landed going into the October 9–11 weekend:
- Budget: $19 million net.
- Projected opening: about $20 million from 3,200 theaters, enough for No. 1, per Deadline. Boxoffice Pro's range is $17 million to $22 million.
- Chastain's Mama, for comparison: a $28.4 million opening in 2013 and $71.6 million domestic overall.
- Savage's The Boogeyman, for comparison: a $12 million opening in 2023.
- The competition: the second weekend of Verity and Aaron Sorkin's The Social Reckoning, which is tracking in the single digits.
Previously we wrote: Sebastian Stan plays a devout dad accused by an entire Norwegian town: Fjord movie release date for Cristian Mungiu's Palme d'Or winner
About those reviews
Universal skipped traditional critics screenings, holding previews in New York and Los Angeles only on October 8, the night before release. Some international influencers and a handful of Rotten Tomatoes critics saw it earlier, and The Hollywood Reporter rounded up their reactions, which were not kind, coming from a crowd that usually skews positive.
"Other Mommy is a hot mess and Jessica Chastain's worst movie in a long time."
— Global Box Office, in an early reaction
The first three reviews on Rotten Tomatoes scored it 1.5, 1.5, and 2 out of 5, with one critic calling it ponderous and over-directed, a would-be elevated horror movie that doesn't get there.
The trailer was the scariest thing in theaters this summer. The first three reviews on Rotten Tomatoes average under 2 out of 5.
