Global audiences sped like the Road Runner to catch Coyote vs. Acme at theaters during its opening weekend, with the project beating projections and earning an estimated US$23.9 million worldwide.
The family-friendly live-action/animated comedy about the Looney Tunes' Wile E. Coyote taking the ACME Corporation to court over its perpetually faulty products also received an A on CinemaScore, which polls North American movie-goers about how much they liked a film, and has scores over 90 on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and audiences alike.
The film's success has already launched a flurry of stories about how WBD's initial decision to shelve the fim for a tax write-off was proven wrong by audiences this weekend, and how it's a victory for Ketchup Entertainment, which picked up the film. But there's also a business case for why releasing the almost-never-seen film was always going to be a smart play.
What the data says
Since 2020, Looney Tunes episodes and movies have earned roughly US$300 million in subscriber revenue for major streaming platforms globally, according to California-based media research firm Parrot Analytics. And Looney Tunes feature films drive consumers to those streamers, Parrot tells Kidscreen.
Parrot's bread and butter is gauging the "demand" for a property, and internal metric based on streams and downloads, social media engagement and consumer web searches. The firm doesn't yet have data on how Coyote vs. ACME is impacting demand, but it's seen that a Looney Tunes theatrical release can provide the whole property with a big boost that benefits its wider TV offerings.
The brand's last big theatrical release, The Day the Earth Blew Up, spiked in demand when it came out in 2024, but it also provided long-term value for the whole Looney Tunes brand, according to Parrot.
"That movie peaked at over 80 times the demand for the average movie the week it premiered," says Parrot's industry insights manager Christopher Hamilton." More importantly for the long-term value of the franchise, that film's release appears to have permanently shifted demand for The Looney Tunes Show higher even a year after its premiere."
Parrot's data has The Looney Tunes Show tracking at 10 to 15 times more in-demand than the average series in the US before The Day the Earth Blew Up came out. "In the year following the movie's release, demand for the series appears to have shifted to a permanently higher baseline, in the range of 20-25x the average series demand," Hamilton adds.
Global audiences sped like the Road Runner to catch Coyote vs. Acme at theaters during its opening weekend, with the project beating projections and earning an estimated US$23.9 million worldwide.
The family-friendly live-action/animated comedy about the Looney Tunes' Wile E. Coyote taking the ACME Corporation to court over its perpetually faulty products also received an A on CinemaScore, which polls North American movie-goers about how much they liked a film, and has scores over 90 on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and audiences alike.
The film's success has already launched a flurry of stories about how WBD's initial decision to shelve the fim for a tax write-off was proven wrong by audiences this weekend, and how it's a victory for Ketchup Entertainment, which picked up the film. But there's also a business case for why releasing the almost-never-seen film was always going to be a smart play.
What the data says
Since 2020, Looney Tunes episodes and movies have earned roughly US$300 million in subscriber revenue for major streaming platforms globally, according to California-based media research firm Parrot Analytics. And Looney Tunes feature films drive consumers to those streamers, Parrot tells Kidscreen.
Parrot's bread and butter is gauging the "demand" for a property, and internal metric based on streams and downloads, social media engagement and consumer web searches. The firm doesn't yet have data on how Coyote vs. ACME is impacting demand, but it's seen that a Looney Tunes theatrical release can provide the whole property with a big boost that benefits its wider TV offerings.
The brand's last big theatrical release, The Day the Earth Blew Up, spiked in demand when it came out in 2024, but it also provided long-term value for the whole Looney Tunes brand, according to Parrot.
"That movie peaked at over 80 times the demand for the average movie the week it premiered," says Parrot's industry insights manager Christopher Hamilton." More importantly for the long-term value of the franchise, that film's release appears to have permanently shifted demand for The Looney Tunes Show higher even a year after its premiere."
Parrot's data has The Looney Tunes Show tracking at 10 to 15 times more in-demand than the average series in the US before The Day the Earth Blew Up came out. "In the year following the movie's release, demand for the series appears to have shifted to a permanently higher baseline, in the range of 20-25x the average series demand," Hamilton adds.
It's also worth noting that Coyote vs. ACME could have an even bigger impact on franchise interest; it made more in its first weekend than The Day the Earth Blew Up made during its entire theatrical run.
The Looney Tunes Show saw a similar demand increase in 2021 following the release of Space Jam 2, Hamilton says," so it looks like these movies are having a lasting impact on raising audience demand fore the broader franchise."
And now, streamers like Tubi are riding a wave of nostalgia watching and co-viewing. Tubi's cntent chief Adam Lewinson recently cited the Looney Tunes episodes in its library as key to its nostalgia-focused kids strategy in a conversation with Kidscreen.
The aftermath
Coyote vs. Acme's success has motivated Michael Kurinsky, one of the directors of Scoob" Holiday Haunt, another film shelved by WBD for a tax write-off in 2023, to call for its release. And character designer Dave Alvarez made a similar call to revive the first-ever-feature-length Looney Tunes, Bye Bye Bunny, which was scrapped in 2024.
And IP-based kids and family films have been crushing it at the global box office this year, showing there's a clear audience for more films aimed at this demo. The success of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (US$1 billion global box office), Minions & Monsters (US$513 million), Spider-Man: Brand New Day (US$2.3 billion) and PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie (US$124 million) are all indicative of the opportunity in theatrical family films.
"We're thrilled to have Coyote vs. ACME on our screens," a spokesperson for the Canadian theater chain Cineplex told Kidscreen. "It's exactly the kind of movie that gives families a reason to make a real outing of it before heading back to school."
The jury might be out on if the film's success will keep up long-term, but it's got that special ingredient needed to bring families to the theater: co-viewing potential, says Paul Moore, a Toronto Metropolitan University film historian and professor of sociology." That's key to the appeal of this Looney Toons revival, which also harkens back to Roger Rabbit from the 80s..."
It remains to be seen whether Coyote vs. ACME's box office performance, and potential long-term IP gains, will convince WBD to bring back Bye Bye Bunny - or make it think twice before scrapping another kids film.
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