Brendan Fraser’s 23-Year-Old Classic Officially Surpassed At Box Office By 2026 Franchise Return

Published Sep 5, 2026, 12:12 PM 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 has blasted a movie-shaped hole through a 23-year-old Brendan Fraser classic at the box office. 2026's Coyote vs. Acme blends live-action and animation, following a court case where Looney Tunes character Wile E. Coyote sues the Acme Corporation over their faulty products, which have repeatedly thwarted his efforts to capture the Road Runner. Although the movie was completed in 2023, it was cancelled by Warner Bros. and indefinitely shelved as a tax write-off. However, small entertainment company Ketchup Entertainment acquired the rights to the movie in 2025 and put it out in theaters on August 28, 2026, at which point it earned their biggest domestic debut in history, by a wide margin. Coyote vs. Acme stars Eric Bauza as the voices of a variety of Looney Tunes characters, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety, and Foghorn Leghorn, opposite a live-action cast that includes Will Forte, Lana Condor, and John Cena. Per The Numbers, Coyote vs. Acme kicked off its 4-day Labor Day weekend run by earning $2.6 million at the domestic box office on Friday alone. This already brings its cumulative domestic gross to $25.1 million (ahead of a projected weekend haul of more than $10 million), cementing its status as the third highest-grossing Looney Tunes movie of all time at the domestic box office. This week, it surpassed the $20.9 million domestic total of the 2003 Joe Dante movie Looney Tunes: Back in Action, another animation-live-action hybrid which starred Brendan Fraser, Jenna Elfman, Joan Cusack, Heather Locklear, Timothy Dalton, and Steve Martin opposite the Looney Tunes. While the cult classic movie was previously the third highest-grossing feature-length installment in the Looney Tunes franchise, it was a flop in theaters, grossing $68.5 million worldwide against a reported budget of $80 million. Below, see the current chart of the highest-grossing Looney Tunes movies at the domestic box office, not adjusted for inflation: Rank Title Domestic Box Office #1 Space Jam (1996) $90.5 million #2 Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021) $70.6 million #3 Coyote vs. Acme (2026) $25.1 million #4 Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) $20.9 million #5 The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie (2024) $8.9 million Ketchup Entertainment reportedly spent $50 million to acquire 2026's Coyote vs. Acme (which reportedly cost Warner Bros. about $70 million to make) alongside an additional marketing spend of $10 million. Because movie theaters keep half of ticket prices, this most likely places the Looney Tunes project's estimated break-even point at $120 million. Although it has now become the third highest-grossing installment in the five-film franchise, it is not guaranteed to hit that benchmark. So far, the only Looney Tunes movies to have grossed more than $120 million worldwide are Space Jam ($250.2 million) and Space Jam: A New Legacy ($163.7 million), and both had higher debuts than Coyote vs. Acme's $15.9 million, earning $27.5 million and $31 million respectively. If Coyote vs. Acme continues on its current trajectory relative to Space Jam: A New Legacy, it might only earn $84 million by the end of its run. However, it still has a chance of hitting its break-even point. The Space Jam sequel was compromised by a day-and-date HBO Max streaming release amid a pandemic-depressed box office era, so it did not perform as well as it could have. Coyote vs. Acme is not encumbered by those same issues, and its word of mouth has been incredible thanks to both the story of its cancellation and resurrection and its near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes scores of 96% from critics and 95% from audiences. Enjoy ScreenRant's box office coverage? Click below to sign up for my weekly box office newsletter (make sure to check "Box Office" in your preferences) and get exclusive analysis, predictions, and more: Sign Up Release Date August 28, 2026 Runtime 101 Minutes Director Dave Green Writers Samy Burch, Jeremy Slater, James Gunn Producers Christopher DeFaria, James Gunn