‘Coyote vs. Acme’ Leads With $1.7M in Previews, While ‘Dog Stars’ Earns $850K on Thursday

‘Coyote vs. Acme’ opened its run with strong early momentum, taking in $1.7 million in previews, according to box office reporting published Thursday. The figure includes $446,000 in Friday/Saturday sneak previews last weekend across the U.S. and Canada, expanding on the film’s initial Thursday take as it moved into the weekend stretch.

The film, described as a live-action animated hybrid directed by Dave Green, is a Warner Bros. Animation title with additional production involvement from Ketchup Entertainment, which the report links to a dog rescue initiative. The early numbers place the movie ahead of the day’s other releases highlighted in the same reporting package.

Alongside ‘Coyote vs. Acme,’ ‘Dog Stars’ drew $850,000 for Thursday, representing the second major entry in the day’s top spotlight on films centered on dogs. Together, the two canine-focused titles accounted for much of the reported attention on Thursday’s slate, with theater traffic drawn by families and moviegoers looking for weekend viewing options.

In the same coverage, ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ was projected to land in the plus-or-minus $15 million range for its full weekend total, an estimate framed as a working expectation based on its preview performance and day-by-day receipts. The report treats the preview and Thursday figures as the most immediate indicators available ahead of the weekend’s final tallies.

The reporting also notes that the preview totals and Thursday figures were part of the most recent running comparison for the films involved, tying audience interest to the first wave of showings rather than later studio or distributor marketing impacts. That approach matters for the industry because preview audiences often function as an early quality and audience-fit report before final weekend holdover performance.

For theater operators and distributors, the practical effect of a strong previews window is straightforward: it can influence how aggressively studios widen showtimes, how exhibitors manage screens for competing releases, and how quickly retailers and local marketing partners push remaining inventory for popular show windows. Box office reporting continues to track the next data points after the initial Thursday period, including Friday and the weekend’s closing totals.

As ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ moves deeper into its release weekend, the next reported checks will focus on daily grosses relative to its preview baseline, and whether ‘Dog Stars’ can sustain attention in the days immediately following Thursday’s start. The figures released so far establish the initial pattern for how dog-centered programming is landing with audiences across the U.S. and Canada.