Coyote vs. Acme claimed second place at the weekend box office, delivering Ketchup Entertainment's biggest opening ever as Ridley Scott's The Dog Stars limped to fifth place in its debut.
Ketchup Entertainment released Coyote vs. Acme on 3,575 North American screens, where it grossed $15.4 million for the weekend after taking in $5.3 million on Friday. The hybrid animation-live-action film, which follows Wile E. Coyote suing the Acme Corporation over its faulty products, earned an A CinemaScore from audiences and stars Will Forte, Lana Condor and John Cena. It topped Ketchup's previous best debut, held by The Day the Earth Blew Up, which opened to $3.5 million in March of last year before reaching a $15 million global cume. Still, the opening came in below the average $23.2 million debut for the past 15 hybrid films, according to FranchiseRe.
Director Dave Green's film, made on a roughly $70 million budget, was shelved by Warner Bros. as a tax write-off in late 2023 before sparking social media outrage. Ketchup Entertainment acquired the rights last year for $50 million. The film has since earned a 95 percent approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, with The Hollywood Reporter critic Frank Scheck calling it "a hilarious delight."
In fifth place, The Dog Stars opened to $8 million domestically across 3,300 locations for 20th Century Studios. The sci-fi thriller, adapted from Peter Heller's 2012 novel about survivors of a devastating virus, stars Jacob Elordi alongside Josh Brolin, Margaret Qualley and Guy Pearce. It scored a 41 percent critics approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 70 audience score. The Hollywood Reporter's chief film critic David Rooney described it as "minor-key to a fault." At 88, Scott saw his lowest box office start since 2021's The Last Duel opened to $4.8 million.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day held the top spot for a fifth consecutive weekend, adding $22.2 million to bring its domestic total to $891.5 million — the second-highest domestic gross ever, trailing only 2015's Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens at $936.6 million. Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and starring Tom Holland, the film climbed to No. 4 on the all-time global chart with a worldwide total of $2.332 billion, pushing Ne Zha 2 ($2.27 billion) to No. 5 and Titanic ($2.26 billion) to No. 6. It now trails only Avatar: The Way of Water, which holds No. 3 with $2.334 billion.
Universal's The Odyssey held third place with $14.3 million, bringing Christopher Nolan's mythological epic to a domestic total of $563.8 million after seven weekends. Sony's Insidious: Out of the Further took fourth with $10.1 million, lifting its domestic total to $43.6 million in its second weekend, a 59 percent drop. Roadside Attractions' horror-comedy Buddy debuted in seventh place with $5.3 million from 1,258 locations. Directed by Casper Kelly and starring Cristin Milioti, Topher Grace and Keegan-Michael Key, the film was described by Rooney as one that "doesn't go far enough to be as extreme or disturbing as it wants to be."
The weekend closed out the summer box office season with an estimated $97 million total, down from $130.5 million the previous weekend, according to FranchiseRe. Rentrak projects the summer's collective gross at $4.444 billion, 25.5 percent ahead of last year but ranking fourth behind the summers of 2013, 2016 and 2015, in descending order.
Photo: Harald Krichel, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
