Coyote vs. Acme, the film Warner Bros wrote off for tax, has made 44.2 million dollars in two weeks
Once shelved by Warner Bros, Coyote vs. Acme is making that call look daft, holding firm over the long weekend with a small drop at the box office.
If you want a proper underdog story, you really can’t do much better than Coyote vs. Acme. The film that Warner Bros tossed aside for a quick tax benefit is now out in UK cinemas, making a fair old nuisance of itself at the box office — and it’s genuinely holding its ground against some big hitters.
Coyote vs. Acme officially landed in cinemas on 28 August and has already pulled in $44.2 million around the world.
The second weekend usually spells doom for a family flick, but Coyote vs. Acme barely flinched, dropping just 28.8% from its opening and banking an extra $14.5 million over the extended Labour Day weekend. That puts its domestic total at $37 million so far, according to the latest Box Office Mojo figures. Add in the $7 million from international audiences and you get that $44.2 million worldwide haul.
The Tax Write-Off Fiasco
Lest you forget, this is the film Warner Bros quietly tried to bury last year. Executives canned it outright after production wrapped, purely for accounting reasons — you know, the kind a studio loves: tax write-off, walk away, move on. Fans and a decent chunk of Hollywood were properly outraged, so after months of hand-wringing, Ketchup Entertainment swooped in and actually bought the thing from WB. Legend behaviour, honestly. They set it loose in cinemas at the end of summer, and here we are.
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The Numbers Game
- Directed by: Dave Green
- Release date: 28 August 2026
- Domestic box office (so far): $37 million
- International box office (so far): $7 million
- Worldwide total: $44.2 million
- Ketchup Entertainment’s buy-in price: Just shy of $50 million
- Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score: 96% (which isn’t shabby at all)
It’s sitting third at the US box office at the moment, only trailing behind The Odyssey and the unstoppable Spider-Man: Brand New Day (which is currently on its sixth bloody week, impossible to move).
According to most reports, the numbers are fuelled by a wave of nostalgia and a surprising critical response — no one expected such a solid Rotten Tomatoes score for what is, let’s face it, a Looney Tunes spin-off that got chucked in the skip by its own parent studio.
Not bad for a movie that nearly never saw the light of day, let alone made over $44 million in less than two weeks’ work.
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