Once again, the top film was Spider-Man: Brand New Day, with nothing standing on its way. Nevertheless, after so many years stuck in tax write-off hell, Coyote vs. Acme finally made its way to theaters with a very solid start. Unfortunately, this weekend also saw the incredibly poor start of The Dog Stars, which ranked as one of the worst ever debuts for Ridley Scott.

The Top 10 earned a combined $76.4 million this weekend. That's up 37.5% from last year, when Weapons hit #1 during Labor Day. There's still one day left, but August 2026 has amassed $1.253 billion, making it the biggest August in history.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day stayed at #1 for the fifth weekend in a row, becoming the first film since Avatar: Fire and Ash in achieving that stat. It added $22.5 million, which was down 42% from last week. The film has amassed a marvelous $891.8 million, and it's $39.5 million ahead of The Force Awakens through the same point. It's now guaranteed to pass that film's lifetime ($936.6 million) to become the highest-grossing film in the domestic market.

Debuting in second place, Ketchup Entertainment's Coyote vs. Acme earned a solid $15.9 million in 3,575 theaters. That's Ketchup's biggest ever debut, and it's already the studio's highest-grossing film. Though clearly that's not a high bar.

Compared to other Looney Tunes productions, the debut wasn't anywhere close to the Space Jam films ($27.5 million and $31 million, respectively) but it was above Back in Action ($9.3 million) and far, far above The Day the Earth Blew Up ($3.1 million).

This film was announced so many years ago, and WB was set on distributing it. However, they announced in November 2023 that they shelve it to obtain a tax write-off, but later reversed its decision and allowed the filmmakers to seek other distributors following public backlash. After more than one year, there were problems in securing studios, so it was expected that the film would be shelved. But then in March 2025, Ketchup bought the film for $50 million, later giving it the August 2026 release date. Paramount was reportedly interesting in helping distribute the film, but it wasn't allowed to date it on or within three weekends of another WB title.

The film cost $70 million, so this is not an ideal debut. At the same time, however, it's very difficult to ask for higher numbers. Ketchup is still a new distributor and they lack the resources that a big studio like WB has for their titles. They reportedly spent only $10 million in advertising the film.

Not to mention how the Looney Tunes have been struggling in terms of popularity for the past decades. After Space Jam succeeded, the brand lost popularity, evidenced by how terrible Back in Action performed. And an attempt in capturing former glory with Space Jam: A New Legacy backfired with its poor reception. Coyote vs. Acme also lacked the two biggest icons, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, as its leads (even if they're in the film). The fact that it could get to $15 million is a miracle.

Whatever the case, it's good to see that the film saw the light of the day. And its incredible reviews (96% on RT, 77 on Metacritic) only strengthened that argument.

According to Ketchup, 57% of the audience was male. The Looney Tunes have been struggling with new generations, but it's notable that the film performed very well with the young demographic. 66% of the audience was 35 and under, with its biggest demographic being 25-34 at 38%. The film played excellent with Gen Z and Millennials.

Audiences gave Coyote vs. Acme a strong "A" on CinemaScore, better than any other Looney Tunes film. Labor Day should lead to a good second weekend drop, and it doesn't face family competition until Forgotten Island in four weeks. Coyote vs. Acme should safely get to over $45 million domestically. It's not going to be the highest-grossing Looney Tunes title, but it still shows there's still some life in the brand.

In third place, Universal's The Odyssey had the best drop in the Top 10. It eased just 27%, earning $14.3 million this weekend. The film has earned $563.8 million domestically, and it's now $49.9 million behind Deadpool & Wolverine through the same point. Given it has stronger days, The Odyssey could actually overtake that film ($636.7 million) to become the highest-grossing R-rated film domestically.

Sony/Blumhouse's Insidious: Out of the Further added $10.2 million on its second weekend. That's down a rough 59%, but at least it's better than the drops for Chapter 2 (66%) and The Red Door (61%). Through 10 days, the film has earned a solid $43.7 million, and should finish with a little below $60 million domestically.

Debuting in fifth place, 20th Century Studios' The Dog Stars tanked with just $7.7 million in 3,330 theaters. That's one of the lowest debuts in over 3,000 theaters. It's also one of the worst debuts for Ridley Scott, it was worse than The Counselor ($7.8 million) and a little above Blade Runner ($6.1 million). In terms of inflation, this was his fifth least-attended debut, only above The Last Duel ($5.8 million), 1492: Conquest of Paradise ($6 million), A Good Year ($6.1 million), and All the Money in the World ($7.6 million).

Given its hefty $70 million budget (with some going as high as $110 million), this is already one of the year's biggest ever failures. It could only touch 11% of that budget. It's Scott's seventh financial disappointment, failing to replicate a single hit since The Martian in 2015.

While the film debuted incredibly low, its failure isn't surprising. While 20th Century Studios pushed heavily the film, the film could not overcome the "been there, done that" feeling. It looked like a pastiche of any 2010s movie/TV show/video game involving the post-apocalypse. Even though it's based on a novel, clearly it wasn't very popular to draw a crowd.

The film also had some notable names like Jacob Elordi, Josh Brolin, Margaret Qualley and Guy Pearce, but they still struggle to prove themselves as box office draws. Even Elordi, coming off Frankenstein and Wuthering Heights, is still not a certified draw. And the real thing that doomed the project: it's sitting at a very weak 40% on Rotten Tomatoes. Once again proving Scott, despite making some classics, is very incosistent in terms of quality.

According to 20th Century Studios, 55% of the audience was male. Even with Elordi's casting, the film had practically no interest to the young demographic: a massive 84% of the audience was 25 and over, with 51% above 35. At least it shows the older demographics still go to the movies, even if the numbers are still very bad.

Audiences gave The Dog Stars a poor "C+" on CinemaScore. That ties it with Legend and Hannibal, and it's only above The Counselor ("D") as Scott's worst graded film. With very weak turnouts and bad word of mouth, the film will sink like a stone. It'd be surprising if it made it past $20 million domestically. Another fine addition to Scott's bomb collection, but don't expect the 88-year-old to lose any sleep; he's already lined up a Treasure Island adaptation as his next film. Whether it truly happens, however, is another thing.

Roadside Attractions/Saban's Buddy over-performed projections. It debuted with a pretty good $5.5 million in 1,277 theaters. That's Roadside Attractions's biggest debut since COVID and second-best ever after I Can Only Imagine ($17 million), and Saban's biggest ever. Looks like the strong reviews (87% on RT) and buzz from Sundance gave it a huge boost.

Paramount's Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie dropped another 45%, grossing $5 million. The film has amassed $43.4 million, and it should finish with a little above $55 million.

WB's The End of Oak Street dropped 44%, earning $4.9 million this weekend. The film's domestic total stands at $45.9 million, and it should end with around $55 million.

Falling to ninth place, Lionsgate's Mutiny collapsed a poor 64% for a $2.7 million weekend. Through 10 days, the film has earned a weak $13.2 million, and it's set to finish with around $17-$18 million domestically.

Rounding out the Top 10 was A24's Tony with $2.2 million on its second wide weekend. That's down a very rough 55%, indicating the film will be more front-loaded than expected. Very surprising, considering the film's word of mouth has been great all across the board. The film has earned $11 million domestically.

Dropping out of the Top 10, we find Black Bear's Spa Weekend. It collapsed a very bad 61%, making just $1.1 million this weekend. With just $5.6 million in the tank, the film will struggle to get to $8 million.

Neon expanded the horror thriller It Ends to 340 theaters, earning $719,690. It will add a few more theaters next week, but don't expect a super wide release.

Focus Features released the British rom-com Finding Emily in 681 theaters, but it could only muster $708,905.

MUBI's Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma also saw a steep drop on its second weekend of wide release. It collapsed 66%, making just $642,740 this weekend. The film has now made $5.3 million domestically, surpassing I Saw the TV Glow ($4.9 million).

OVERSEAS

Move aside, Spider-Man. Someone has returned to claim the top spot.

The Odyssey was the biggest American title in the overseas front, reclaiming the top spot after Spider-Man: Brand New Day led for four weeks. It added $48.6 million overseas, taking its worldwide total to a staggering $1.553 billion. It has passed Top Gun: Maverick ($1.503 billion), Furious 7 ($1.515 billion) and The Avengers ($1.520 billion) to become the 14th highest-grossing film of all time.

The biggest markets are the UK ($106.5M), China ($88.3M), France ($81.8M), South Korea ($70.1M), Italy ($62.4M), Germany ($56.2M), Australia ($42.3M), Spain ($40.3M) and Mexico ($37.1M). Next week, it will add its final market, Japan.

On the IMAX front, the film added $24.6 million worldwide, taking the IMAX lifetime to a spectacular $449 million ($195 million domestically, $254 million overseas). It still has IMAX booked in advanced for the next weeks. Which means it will become the first film to hit $500 million from IMAX alone. Just for reference, Avatar held the IMAX record for 17 years ($256 million). Even using inflation, The Odyssey blew past that figure.

By next week, The Odyssey should hit $1.6 billion worldwide. Passing Jurassic World ($1.671 billion) as Universal's highest grossing film is now guaranteed. And based on its drops, $1.8 billion is becoming a possibility.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day added $44 million overseas, taking its worldwide total to $2.333 billion. It has passed Ne Zha 2 ($2.270 billion) to become the fourth highest-grossing film of all time, and it's just one day away from passing Avatar: The Way of Water ($2.334 billion) as the third highest. The best markets are China ($227.4M), the UK ($125.2M), Mexico ($88.2M), France ($81.6M), Brazil ($70.2M), Germany ($62.8M), South Korea ($62.7M), India ($61.5M), Australia ($57.1M) and Spain ($42.6M).

Insidious: Out of the Further added $18.7 million overseas, reaching $109.6 million worldwide. The best markets are Mexico ($7.7M), the UK ($6.6M), Philippines ($5.4M), and France ($3.3M).

The Dog Stars debuted with a weak $11.1 million overseas, for a poor $18.8 million worldwide launch. It had very soft debuts in France ($1.5M), the UK ($1.4M), Spain ($1M), Mexico ($900K), Italy ($800K), Japan ($700K) and Australia ($500K). These numbers are just not good at all, and the lack of positive word of mouth will only complicate things.

Right now, there are no official box office numbers for Coyote vs. Acme around the world. The only confirmed number is in Mexico, country where the Looney Tunes are massively popular (it was the #1 OS market for The Day the Earth Blew Up and one of the few places where Back in Action performed very well). The film opened at #1 with a pretty great $4.3 million, and there's the very strong possibility that the film sold more tickets in the country than in North America. Given the strong word of mouth and the very empty schedule, it looks like the film could have some great legs in the country.

Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie added $7.9 million overseas, for a $124.7 million worldwide run.

The End of Oak Street added $6 million overseas, allowing it to cross $100 million worldwide. The best markets are the UK ($8.1M), Mexico ($6M), France ($5.4M), Japan ($4.2M) and Spain ($3.3M).

FILMS THAT ENDED THEIR RUN THIS WEEK

• Crashing and burning. WB/Sony's Evil Dead Burn has closed with $32 million domestically and $72 million worldwide. It was fairly cheap, so it was a success. But the film was 51% down from Evil Dead Rise ($147.2 million), which is surprising considering the franchise's good will and the lack of horror competition in July. But it looks like the franchise has peaked in terms of interest and awareness. There's already another film, Evil Dead Wrath, set for May 2028 after wrapping filming. But it remains to be seen what WB and Sony plan afterwards.

THIS WEEKEND

The summer season officially comes to an end with the Labor Day weekend.

Even though this is the weekend where Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings opened with over $70 million, studios often avoid the weekend when it comes to big films and this is no different. Given the weak competition, Spider-Man: Brand New Day should easily hold on to the top spot.

Paramount is releasing the thriller By Any Means, starring Mark Wahlberg and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. It follows a notorious mafia hitman and a young Black FBI agent who team up to investigate the murders of civil rights leaders in Mississippi in 1966. The premise sounds intriguing and both stars have had their fair amount of successes, but they have been in a lot of duds as well. Paramount is hoping that the older demographic shows up.

Lionsgate is releasing Fall 2: Deadpoint, sequel to the 2022 film. A very strange choice, given that film made just $21 million worldwide. A solid success, but nowhere close to be among the year's most profitable titles. Reportedly, Lionsgate greenlit the film after the original was a success in Netflix. Is that gonna help it or will people just wait till it's streaming?

A24 is also releasing Adam Wingard's new thriller Onslaught, starring Adria Arjona, Dan Stevens, Eric Wareheim, Reginald VelJohnson, Michael Biehn, Alex Pereira, Drew Starkey, and Rebecca Hall. The film follows an army sniper as she struggles to protect her young daughter from an army of genetically engineered super soldiers who escaped from a secret military facility. The film will have IMAX access, and Wingard has been mostly reliable from a financial perspective.

STREAMING DATA

Figures for the week of August 17 to August 23 on Netflix:

It was a busy week in Netflix, with 6 foreign titles hitting the Top 10.

The top title was the Mexican thriller Facing El Chapo, which debuted with a pretty great 18 million views.

The runner-up was the comedy Don't Say Good Luck, debuting with a modest 12.8 million views.

On its third frame, The Last House added 12 million views, taking its lifetime total to 73 million views.

72 Hours added 4 million views, for 68.3 million in total.

ANNOUNCEMENT

Because next week is Labor Day, actuals will be delayed by one day. So next week's write-up will be posted on Tuesday instead.

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