Not sure if this is flexing yours truly’s erudite skills, but this weekend has been an aberration of sorts, and to cite the good word, not necessarily in a splendid way. Yes, horror remains the victor, but in other demographics, it’s been a bonkers ride.

The best appeal to sell your number one movie this weekend turned out to be a grand marketing scheme, as Other Mommy got the best-case scenario to broadcast its trailer and scares when The Odyssey rolled around in theaters. Rob Savage and Nathan Elston’s film clearly benefited from 2.5 months of captive-audience promotion through its slow-burn teaser playing before the R-rated fantasy, and it also benefited from being sold by the studio that brought you Obsession and Backrooms. However, despite leading the weekend (thanks to a great concept and the high-ride of horror in 2026) with $27.5 million, it earned a lousy D+ from CinemaScore and mixed-to-negative reviews.

Here’s the notation: horror polls bizarrely, since those who genuinely thought it was bad align with those who thought it was too scary or disturbing; otherwise, those declaring it “good” will say it is outright “good” as a whole set piece. Perhaps fantastical horrors > real-world horrors, then? It’s hard to assess if this film, which is almost wholly original, will get a good run with legs in the midst of the spooky season, or will crash and burn. Based on this year’s track record, we’ll teeter toward the former.

In other (good) news, Verity dipped 64% in its second weekend with $11.48 million and has already passed $113 million worldwide. The Anne Hathaway/Dakota Johnson/Josh Hartnett feature has already justified its budget despite mixed reviews, with Hathaway further boosting her box office totals for her fifth title this year alone. As mentioned last week, her best odds of nabbing honors at next year’s ceremonies likely lie with Nolan’s $1.779 billion performing (and counting) drama or The Devil Wears Prada 2. Meanwhile, Resident Evil has been riding the high tide by already blowing past $320 million worldwide. Yes, it will become Cregger’s highest-grossing film thus far, and yes, it will top $400 million worldwide. Brad Pitt’s Heart of the Beast is showing better post-legs since its debut, already passing $131 million worldwide, and Primetime has passed $41 million worldwide.

All right, now back to the bad news: Sony’s The Social Reckoning proved yet another case of audiences not wanting to spend the time and money to be reminded of the tragic, terrifying real world. Only a $5.5 million debut means the follow-up to the excellent The Social Network desperately couldn’t wrap its head around not having Jesse Eisenberg or a better marketing tactic to sell itself. So this film will not only bomb, but it will also remind audiences that some follow-ups are something they didn’t want to see or care about as they navigate their lives.

Forgotten Island will become a bomb, as will Tom Cruise’s Digger, which collapsed further in its second weekend with $3.2 million domestically. Angel Studios’ The Angel and the Badman debuted with $2 million, while Fathon Entertainment brought Pan’s Labyrinth back to theaters for its 20th anniversary with $1.66 million.

Next weekend sees the release of Street Fighter, Whalefall, Sense and Sensibility, The Only Living Pickpocket in New York, Clean Hands, Crawlers, and Hallowarrior.