FRIDAY PM: It’s Spidey’s world, and Jacob Elordi and Wile E. Coyote are just living in it, but let’s not ignore the pace we’re seeing on the latter Ketchup Entertainment theatrical release of the abandoned Warner Bros’ Looney Tunes title, Coyote Vs. Acme, which is eyeing third place with $12M-$14M.
Sony/Marvel Studios’ Spider-Man: Brand New Day is seeing a fifth Friday of $5.3M and fifth weekend at $19M, maybe even $20M+ at 3,678 theaters, which will get the movie to an $11M’s breath away from $900M by Sunday. Again, a great No. 1 hold for a title this late in the summer, post Covid. A year ago at this time, New Line’s Weapons led with $10.4M in its fourth sesh.
Universal’s The Odyssey refuses to let go of second, with a seventh frame of $14.5M, -26%, for a running cume of $564M by Sunday.
Fourth is Sony’s second weekend of Screen Gems/Stage 6/Blumhouse Atomic Monster’s Insidious: Out of the Further at 3,303 sites with a Friday of $3M, and 3-day of $9M, -64%, with a ten-day cume by Sunday of $42.5M.
Fifth goes to 20th Century Studios’ Dog Stars from Ridley Scott at 3,330 locations and a very low $3M today (including last night’s $850K) and $8M opening. That’s not that far from another auteur’s, young star leading feature a year ago, Darren Aronofsky’s Caught Stealing which starred Austin Butler. That didn’t steal anything and opened to $7.8M and finaled at $19M stateside.
Outside the top five there’s Roadside Attractions and Saban’s R-rated Buddy with an eye on a first Friday plus previews of $2M and 3-day between $4M-$5M. Critics are at 88% certified fresh while the audience likes it at 81%.
FRIDAY AM: Ketchup Entertainment’s dog rescue of Warner Bros Animation’s Coyote vs. Acme was solid in previews with $1.7M. That includes not only Thursday money from showtimes that began at 3 p.m. but also $446K from last weekend’s sneaks in U.S. and Canada. The Dave Green-directed PG live-action/animated hybrid is expected to do plus-or-minus $15M this weekend.
Funny enough, and keep an asterisk in this comp, that’s the same amount of money that Disney 2016’s Zootopia made in preview cash. But that was a different time, and that tentpole was backed by a mega marketing budget. We hear that the P&A spend on Coyote vs. Acme is around $10M after Ketchup’s $50M global acquisition.
A good post-Covid animation comp here is Universal/Illumination’s 2023 Migration, which did $1.5M in previews (granted, during a pre-Christmas weekend) en route to a $5.7M Friday and $12.4M 3-day. For those counting, Warner Bros’ previous Looney Tunes movie, Space Jam 2: A New Legacy, didn’t hold previews when it hit theaters and HBO Max at the same time back in July 2021.
RELATED: ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ Review: The Movie Warner Bros Shelved In 2023 Becomes Its Most Entertaining Film Of 2026 & Best Live Action/Toon Hybrid Since ‘Roger Rabbit’
Coyote vs. Acme is 95% certified fresh with critics and 92% with audiences, which will only help the pic. Now the question is whether it expands beyond its core fervent social media fanbase.
Ridley’s Scott’s dystopian-future thriller The Dog Stars, led by Jacob Elordi and Josh Brolin, began with $850K on Thursday. The hope is that this feature could make it to a $12M-$14M start. The comp going into the weekend was the Rami Malek-starring 20th Century Studios thriller The Amateur from last year, but that did $2M in previews for a near-$6M Friday and a $14.8M start. Dog Stars is, of course, way lower in previews. Thursday’s shows began at 2 p.m. for the R-rated feature take on the Peter Heller novel. Critics weren’t yipping for Dog Stars at 40% Rotten. The pic is sharing Imax theaters with The Odyssey and PLFs with Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
RELATED: ‘The Dog Stars’ Review: Jacob Elordi Searches For Last Gasp Of Humanity In Ridley Scott’s Sharp Postapocalyptic Thriller
Sony/Marvel Studios’ Spider-Man: Brand New Day ends Week 4 for with $53.3M and a running cume of $869.2M. That’s $30.8M from crossing the nine-century mark at the domestic box office, which would make it only the second title to hit that milestone. At its current running cume level, the pic is 5% ahead of Star Wars: The Force Awakens at the same point in time, which finaled at $936.6M. Weekend 5 is expected to be around $18M, -54%.
RELATED: ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Conquers ‘Avengers: Endgame’ To Become 2nd Highest Grossing Pic At Domestic Box Office
Roadside Attractions and Saban’s Sundance pickup Buddy did $777K in previews, which includes Thursday night’s $527K in addition to $250K in mystery movie screenings. The Casper Kelly’s R-rated dark comedy is booked in 1,258 theaters. Starring Cristin Milioti, Topher Grace and the voice of Patton Oswalt, it follows a brave girl and her friends who must escape a kids TV show and its murderous main character.
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Go Buddy! We saw it yesterday and really enjoyed it.
What’s the over/under for the date when BND passes TFA? My best guess would be September 20th.
It won’t? it only has $65m to go and it made $53m last weekend. Ih has at least $70m left in the tank, especially with Labor Day next weekend certain to give it a small lift.