$12.3 million on Friday alone and its $19 million budget already covered: 'Other Mommy' heads for a $27.5 million opening — while Sorkin's 'The Social Reckoning' sinks to No. 5 with $6 million

The reviews were harsh, but audiences didn't care: 'Other Mommy', Universal's horror film starring Jessica Chastain in a dual role (the real mother and the creature that imitates her), grossed $12.3 million on Friday (Oct. 9) in the U.S. and Canada, after $3.6 million in Thursday previews. According to Deadline's box office report, the weekend projection is about $27.5 million from 3,365 theaters — more than the $19 million the film cost to produce, before marketing.

Directed by Rob Savage and produced by James Wan with Atomic Monster and Blumhouse, the film comfortably beats early expectations of roughly $20 million to $25 million and lands in the range of other recent horror debuts: 'The Black Phone 2' opened to $27.3 million and 'The Exorcist: Believer' to $26.5 million. All of this with just an 18% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, according to JoBlo.

On the other side, Friday was bitter for 'The Social Reckoning', Aaron Sorkin's thematic follow-up to 'The Social Network'. The Sony drama, with Mikey Madison as whistleblower Frances Haugen and Jeremy Strong as Mark Zuckerberg, made $650,000 in Thursday previews and $2.3 million on Friday and is expected to finish the weekend with about $6 million from 2,606 theaters, below its $7 million projection and only in fifth place. The film cost $30 million after incentives, half of it financed by Alcon Entertainment.

Among the rest, 'Verity' (Amazon MGM) holds second place in its second weekend, with a projected $13.3 million and $55.6 million to date. The figures are still Friday-based projections and may change before official estimates come out on Sunday.