Coyote vs Acme scores $15.4 million as Spider Man holds box office lead

MUMBAI: The box office had plenty of bark, but Spider-Man still had the bite. Coyote vs. Acme made a respectable $15.4 million in its North American opening weekend, finishing second behind Spider-Man: Brand New Day, while Ridley Scott’s The Dog Stars opened in fifth with $8 million.

Released by independent distributor Ketchup Entertainment across 3,575 screens, Coyote vs. Acme collected $5.3 million on Friday before finishing the weekend with its $15.4 million haul. The live-action and animation hybrid stars Will Forte, Lana Condor and John Cena in the story of Wile E. Coyote taking Acme Corporation to court over its famously faulty products.

The opening marks Ketchup Entertainment’s biggest-ever debut, surpassing The Day the Earth Blew Up, which opened to $3.5 million in March 2025 and went on to gross $15 million worldwide.

The result is softer than the recent average for hybrid films. According to FranchiseRe, the previous 15 such releases averaged $23.2 million in their opening weekends. Still, Coyote vs. Acme has a strong audience reception, earning an A CinemaScore, while critics have given it a 95 per cent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The film also arrives with quite the Hollywood comeback story. Warner Bros. had shelved the completed movie in 2023, reportedly intending to take a tax write-off, despite its approximately $70 million production budget. Following an online backlash, Ketchup Entertainment acquired the rights for $50 million last year.

At the top, Spider-Man: Brand New Day showed no signs of surrendering the box office crown, taking $22.2 million in its fifth weekend.

The Sony release now stands at $891.5 million domestically, keeping it the second-highest-grossing film ever at the North American box office, behind Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, which has $936.6 million.

Globally, Brand New Day has reached $2.332 billion, moving into fourth place on the all-time worldwide chart. It has overtaken Ne Zha 2, which stands at $2.27 billion, and Titanic at $2.26 billion.

Spider-Man is now just behind Avatar: The Way of Water, which sits third with $2.334 billion.

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey remained third domestically with $14.3 million, taking its seven-week total to $563.8 million. Insidious: Out of the Further followed in fourth with $10.1 million, lifting its domestic tally to $43.6 million after two weekends. The horror sequel fell 59 per cent in its second frame.

Scott’s The Dog Stars had a quieter arrival, opening to $8 million from 3,300 locations for fifth place. Led by Jacob Elordi, Josh Brolin, Margaret Qualley and Guy Pearce, the sci-fi thriller is based on Peter Heller’s 2012 novel about survivors of a devastating virus.

The film has a 41 per cent critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 70 audience score. Its opening is also Scott’s weakest since The Last Duel, which debuted to just $4.8 million in 2021.

Another newcomer, Buddy, opened in sixth with $5.3 million from 1,258 locations. The horror-comedy stars Cristin Milioti, Topher Grace and Keegan-Michael Key.

Overall, the weekend generated an estimated $97 million across North America, down from $130.5 million the previous weekend.

Even so, the broader summer box office remains in strong shape. Rentrak estimates that summer 2026 releases will have collectively grossed $4.444 billion by Sunday, putting the season 25.5 per cent ahead of last year. That still leaves 2026 in fourth place, behind the summers of 2013, 2016 and 2015.