Coyote Vs. Acme Outgrosses All But 3 WB Movies On Key Box Office Chart After Attempted Cancellation

Published Sep 21, 2026, 9:25 AM EDT

Brennan Klein (he/him) is a senior news writer at Screen Rant, host of the Attack of the Queerwolf podcast, and contributor at Alternate Ending and Horror Press. He has been writing and podcasting about pop culture (especially horror movies) for over a decade at platforms including Blumhouse, Fangoria, Dread Central, The Backlot, and Arrow in the Head.

Coyote vs. Acme is singing a merry tune at the box office years after its cancellation.

The 2026 Looney Tunes movie, a live-action and animation hybrid which follows Wile E. Coyote suing the Acme Corporation for their faulty products, was originally cancelled by Warner Bros. in November 2023 as a tax write-off, even though it was completed. Coyote vs. Acme, which was directed by Dave Green (Earth to Echo) and stars Eric Bauza, John Cena, Lana Condor, Will Forte, and P. J. Byrne, was eventually acquired by small media company Ketchup Entertainment in March 2025. It finally debuted in theaters on August 28, 2026, almost three full years after being shelved.

Other completed movies that were cancelled by WB but still haven't been released include Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt.

Per Box Office Mojo, Coyote vs. Acme concluded its fourth weekend in theaters by earning a 3-day total of $4.5 million, which brings its cumulative domestic haul to $54.8 million. This sees it inching past the cumulative domestic haul of the Warner Bros. dinosaur movie The End of Oak Street, which concluded the weekend (its sixth in theaters) by hitting $54 million.

In addition to officially joining the chart of the Top 30 movies of the year so far at the domestic box office, by surpassing The End of Oak Street, Coyote vs. Acme has outgrossed five of the eight movies that Warner Bros. has put out in domestic theaters this year. Below, see how Coyote vs. Acme compares to all those Warner Bros. movies, both in terms of their rank on the domestic chart for 2026 and their cumulative domestic box office totals (as of Sunday, September 20):

Rank	Title	Domestic Box Office
#20	Wuthering Heights	$84 million
#21	Mortal Kombat II	$79.8 million
#22	Supergirl	$72.4 million
#30	Coyote vs. Acme	$54.8 million
#31	The End of Oak Street	$54 million
#33	Practical Magic 2	$50 million
#39	Evil Dead Burn	$32.2 million
#40	Lee Cronin's The Mummy	$29.1 million
#77	They Will Kill You	$10.9 million

Ultimately, it seems likely that Warner Bros. will earn at least a few more domestic wins before the end of the year. They have four major theatrical releases set to descend before the end of the year, including Clayface.

The DC Studios horror movie has a more limited audience than Supergirl thanks to its R rating, but its unusual approach to superhero storytelling could ultimately make it more of a draw at the box office than Supergirl (which was a notable flop, grossing $126.4 million worldwide against a reported budget of more than $170 million), seeing Clayface landing higher on the domestic chart.

Their anticipated sci-fi sequel Dune: Part Three also seems guaranteed to land higher than 2026's Coyote vs. Acme on the chart (2021's Dune earned $108.9 million in domestic theaters, while Dune: Part Two earned $282.1 million). The studio will also be releasing the animated Dr. Seuss adaptation The Cat in the Hat and the Alejandro G. Iñárritu dark comedy Digger, both of which are more unknown quantities in terms of box office potential, though the former will benefit from appealing to the same family market as the Looney Tunes movie.

If three of those four movies ultimately chart above Coyote vs. Acme, the uncancelled movie will lose its lead over Warner Bros. by the end of the year. However, it is still posting impressive week-on-week holds, which should help it continue to prove its worth as a box office contender. On top of outgrossing much bigger releases like The End of Oak Street, it is drawing closer and closer to turning a tidy profit.

Reportedly, Ketchup Entertainment spent $50 million on the rights to Coyote vs. Acme and an additional $10 million on marketing, which likely places their break-even point at $120 million. The movie has already earned $80 million worldwide and will probably make up any theatrical deficit (should there be any) with its impending releases on video on demand and streaming.

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