One of the biggest question marks hovering over the box office this summer has been how Ketchup Entertainment’s Coyote vs. Acme would fare at the box office. The film was infamously dumped by Warner Bros. after they doubted its commercial viability, only to be picked up following fan outrage. Judging by Deadline’s early numbers, WB might have made a big mistake, with the film having a stronger-than-expected $1.7 million preview night. Numbers like that suggest a high-teens opening, which is more than we predicted, with it possible the film could even hit second place at the box office this weekend, next to Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
If this happens, it will be quite the David vs. Goliath story, as WB dumped a movie that might actually outperform some of the movies they’ve put out this summer. If Coyote vs. Acme had the kind of marketing muscle WB gave Supergirl, it may well have turned out to be a hit. That Ketchup has been able to get such a strong showing with likely a fraction of WB’s marketing spend is impressive.
Sadly, Ridley Scott’s latest, The Dog Stars, is looking like it will be D.O.A. at the box office, only earning a poor $850K. Disney is hoping for an opening in the mid-teens, but that seems impossible despite the combined star power of Scott and stars Jacob Elordi, Josh Brolin, and Margaret Qualley. With a budget north of $100 million, it looks like it will be one of the summer’s last big flops—which is too bad, as it ain’t half bad. It actually didn’t earn all that much more than Roadside Attractions’ Buddy, which made over $500K, with it looking at a weekend potentially in the $5 million range, which isn’t bad at all for such a deeply strange (but interesting) film.
We’ll be back with more stats tomorrow!