Considering the terrible summer Warner Bros. is having, it’s pretty clear they made a mistake axing Coyote vs. Acme from their catalogue, with the small distributor Ketchup Entertainment leading it to a decent opening in the mid-teens. According to Deadline’s numbers, it’s looking at an opening in the $12-14 million range. While hardly blockbuster box office numbers, one must remember that Ketchup has had to go the grassroots direction with its marketing of the film, so that’s a pretty impressive opening. Had WB given it one of their high-end campaigns, it could have opened to twice that number, which would have let it outperform one of their many flops from this summer, which included Supergirl, Evil Dead Burn, and The End of Oak Street.
Alas, instead they decided to make it a tax write-off, and had the fans and Ketchup not intervened, it would have been lost in legal limbo forever (similar to the fate that awaited the still-unseen Batgirl movie). It’s worth noting that Coyote vs. Acme also scored a great A CinemaScore rating.
However, the weekend’s other big opener, Ridley Scott’s The Dog Stars, is on track for an abysmal $8 million opening (pretty much what we predicted earlier this week), which is horrible for a movie that cost over $100 million. Despite a buzzy cast that includes Euphoria’s Jacob Elordi, Margaret Qualley, and Josh Brolin, only faithful Ridley Scott fans are seeking this one out, and it’s earned a flat-out terrible C+ CinemaScore. There’s nothing saving this from being one of the year’s biggest flops.
Another low-key release, Roadside Attractions’ Buddy, about a killer, Barney-esque children’s TV mascot, is overperforming, with it on track for a $4-5 million weekend. As for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, it will easily top the weekend box office with about $19 million, while Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is still riding high with $14.5 million. Insidious: Out of the Further is proving to be front-loaded, with it looking at a 64% drop to $9 million, but that’s not unexpected for a PG-13 horror flick.
We’ll be back tomorrow with a full update, including international numbers.
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