What’s in this guide
Halloween season has its first big nightmare. Other Mommy, the new supernatural horror from Blumhouse and producer James Wan, puts Jessica Chastain in a dual role as a mother and the smiling entity that has copied her face. The film opens in theaters on October 9, 2026, and early tracking has it beating every other release this weekend. If you are after the release date, the trailer, the cast, the book it is based on, or where to watch it, this guide has everything in one place.
Other Mommy Release Date
Other Mommy will be released in US theaters on Friday, October 9, 2026, by Universal Pictures. It opens exclusively in cinemas, with no same-day streaming. The film was first scheduled for May 8, 2026, before Universal moved it to October to give it the Halloween season window, a slot that has served Blumhouse horror very well in recent years.
The move looks smart. Tracking reported in the week before release put the opening weekend between $22 million and $29 million, with some trackers going as high as $35 million. If it lands there, Other Mommy would score the biggest opening for a horror book adaptation since It Chapter Two in 2019. The film runs a tight 93 minutes and is rated R for some bloody violence and language.
Other Mommy Trailer
Watch the official trailer for Other Mommy below. Universal released two trailers over the summer, and the footage leans hard on one question: is the woman on screen the real Ursula, or the thing pretending to be her? Director Rob Savage has joked that the finished film packs in around 50 jump scares, so consider yourself warned.
What Is Other Mommy About?
Bela is eight years old, and her home life is already fragile. Her parents, Ursula and Russell, are stuck in a marriage that is quietly falling apart. Then Bela starts talking to someone nobody else can see: a presence that comes out of her closet, looks and sounds exactly like her mother, and keeps asking the same question.
“Can I go inside your heart?”
That is what the entity wants, and Bela keeps refusing. The visits turn from secret conversations into open attacks on the family, and Ursula faces a horror no parent is ready for: her daughter cannot always tell which mommy is real. To keep the two apart, watch for the glasses. Ursula wears them. Other Mommy does not. Savage has said the dread comes from that uncertainty, never knowing whether a scene is playing out with the devoted mother or the demon wearing her face.
The Book Behind Other Mommy
Other Mommy is based on Incidents Around the House, the 2024 New York Times bestselling horror novel by Josh Malerman, the author of Bird Box. Screenwriter Nathan Elston, a WGA Award winner from the Succession writing team, adapted the book, and Malerman stayed on as an executive producer. The author has said he was sold on the film three minutes into an early screening.
The scariest part is where the idea came from. Malerman has told the story of his brother tucking his young niece into bed one night when the girl wished goodnight to “Other Mommy,” speaking to an empty corner of the room. That real moment became the seed of the novel, and now of the film. One question follows the movie everywhere: is it based on Coraline? It is not. Neil Gaiman’s Other Mother is a separate creation, and the shared idea is a coincidence of childhood fears. Chastain has pointed out that the film keeps the word “Mommy” precisely because that is what a small child like Bela would actually say.
Cast and Crew
Cast photos: TMDB
The film belongs to Jessica Chastain, who plays both Ursula and the entity. It is a return to the genre that gave her Mama in 2013 and It Chapter Two in 2019, and Savage has revealed that Chastain performed most of the entity’s unsettling physical work herself, nine times out of ten. Jay Duplass plays Russell, the father Bela calls Daddo, and young Arabella Olivia Clark carries the film as Bela in her first major studio feature. Behind the camera, Rob Savage (Host, The Boogeyman) directs, and James Wan produces through Blumhouse Atomic Monster, the label behind the Saw, Insidious and Conjuring franchises. Wan has called Chastain the film’s secret weapon. If horror is your thing this month, our guide to Insidious: Out of the Further covers the newest chapter of one of his other franchises.
Where to Watch Other Mommy
At launch, the only way to watch Other Mommy is in a theater. Universal is opening it exclusively in cinemas from October 9, 2026, and it is not on Netflix or any other streaming service. Plenty of readers ask about Netflix because so many horror titles land there, but this is a Universal theatrical release, so the answer for now is tickets, not streaming.
Universal has not announced a streaming or digital date yet. The studio’s theatrical films usually move to digital rental first and then to streaming a few months into their run, but treat any date you see elsewhere as a guess until Universal confirms it. We will update this guide the moment the streaming plan is official.
Other Mommy FAQ
When does Other Mommy come out?
Other Mommy opens in US theaters on Friday, October 9, 2026, released by Universal Pictures. It was originally scheduled for May 8, 2026, before moving to the Halloween season.
What is Other Mommy about?
Eight-year-old Bela forms a bond with a sinister entity in her home that looks and sounds exactly like her mother. The entity, which Bela calls Other Mommy, wants to be let “inside her heart,” and its visits turn into attacks on the whole family.
Is Other Mommy based on a book?
Yes. It adapts Incidents Around the House, Josh Malerman’s 2024 New York Times bestselling horror novel. Malerman also wrote Bird Box and serves as an executive producer on the film.
Is Other Mommy based on Coraline?
No. The two stories are unrelated. Coraline’s villain is called the Other Mother, which causes the mix-up, but Other Mommy comes from Josh Malerman’s novel Incidents Around the House and has no connection to Neil Gaiman’s story.
Is Other Mommy a sequel to Mama?
No. Other Mommy is a standalone film. The confusion comes from Jessica Chastain, who starred in Mama in 2013 and plays both Ursula and the entity here.
Why is Other Mommy rated R?
Other Mommy is rated R for some bloody violence and language. It runs 93 minutes, so it is a lean, adult horror film rather than a family-friendly one.
Is Other Mommy on Netflix?
No. Other Mommy is a Universal Pictures theatrical release and plays only in theaters from October 9, 2026. No streaming date has been announced yet.
Who plays Other Mommy?
Jessica Chastain plays both roles: Ursula, Bela’s real mother, and the entity copying her. An easy tell on screen is that Ursula wears glasses and Other Mommy does not.
October 9 gives horror fans a genuine double feature. If you want scares, Other Mommy is the weekend’s big opening, and if you want the prestige option instead, the same day also brings Aaron Sorkin’s Facebook drama, which we covered in our The Social Reckoning 2026 guide. We will update this page with box office results, reviews, and the streaming date as they land.
