Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Reckoning is staring at a bleak opening, with current projections pointing to just $7 million to $8 million in North America. That forecast places the film far below the opening achieved by the Facebook drama it follows, as reported by Breitbart.

The film has been presented as a “companion piece” to David Fincher’s acclaimed The Social Network from 2010. That earlier movie opened with $22 million, making the projected gap between the two releases especially stark.

Aaron Sorkin’s sequel to 'The Social Network' attempts to shame a ruling class that has proved itself shameless, writes WIRED's senior writer Miles Klee.

'The Social Reckoning' releases today in the US and the UK. https://t.co/MSEbzKZmVx — WIRED (@WIRED) October 9, 2026

Variety reported on Wednesday that Sorkin’s film was targeting the modest North American debut.

The projected figure trails the original movie’s opening even before any adjustment for inflation, despite the releases arriving almost exactly 16 years apart.

The Social Network ultimately collected an impressive $224 million around the world.

According to the source, it also launched the careers of Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield while winning four Oscars.

Several major figures associated with the original are not returning for The Social Reckoning. Fincher, Eisenberg, and composer Trent Reznor are all absent from the new film, which Sorkin wrote and directed.

The story will chronicle the work of Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen during the early 2020s. Jeremy Strong has stepped into the role of Facebook cofounder Mark Zuckerberg, replacing Eisenberg in the part.

The first trailer arrived in June and quickly drew a poor response from many fans. Viewers criticized what they regarded as cringe-inducing dialogue and an overall drop in quality from the earlier film.

One line, “she’s disrupting!” became a particular target of mockery. The trailer also used a callback to Reznor’s Academy Award-winning score as a bookend, a choice the source described as cheap.

Some fans dismissed the preview as little more than a cheap imitation of The Social Network. Others went further, calling the footage a “cringe” slopfest as doubts about the new film spread following the trailer’s release.

Strong’s performance did receive some appreciation, particularly for what viewers considered an uncanny impression of Zuckerberg.

At the same time, some people felt the actor’s lack of physical resemblance to the real Facebook cofounder pulled them out of the experience.

One X user delivered an especially brutal assessment of the trailer’s escalating dialogue.

“Every line of this trailer will have you cringing harder than the one before it right up until the last one, at which point you will actually laugh out loud,” the user said.

The early reviews have not provided a clear reversal of that chilly reception. Critical reaction has been mixed so far, leaving the movie without the kind of emphatic praise enjoyed by its predecessor.

The Social Reckoning currently holds a 63% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The source characterized that score as placing the film in watchable but not great territory, an especially damaging position for a follow-up to such a highly regarded movie.

The comparison is made harsher by the original film’s financial performance, awards success, and reputation among fans.

With a projected debut of no more than $8 million, mixed reviews, and a mocked trailer, Sorkin’s companion film is tracking far behind the $22 million opening of The Social Network.

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