‘Coyote Vs. Acme’ Climbs To Third At Global Box Office; ‘Cars,’ ‘Akira’ Re-Releases Score Domestically

Coyote vs. Acme tied a rocket to its back and blasted up into third place at the worldwide box office in its second weekend in theaters, leading a strong frame for animated titles that included a Cars anniversary release, a solid hold for Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie, and an impressive North American 4K re-release run for Akira.

Here are our takeaways from a weekend in which animated films took four of the top 10 spots globally.

Domestic

Coyote vs. Acme earned $11.3 million in its second weekend, a stellar drop of just 29% from its $15.9 million debut and good enough to finish the frame in fourth place. Distributed by Ketchup Entertainment, the film has now grossed $33.8 million at the local box office and is projected to rake in another $3.2 million on Labor Day.

Disney’s 20th-anniversary re-release of Pixar’s Cars opened with $6.1 million from 2,900 locations, good for fifth in North America. Including Labor Day projections, the re-release should end up around $7.6 million over the four-day weekend.

Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie stuck around the top 10 with $3.3 million, down 34% in its fourth weekend. The Paramount release has earned $48.5 million domestically to date.

Katsuhiro Otomo’s anime classic Akira collected an estimated $2.67 million from only 787 locations for an incredible $3,393 per-theater average, among the weekend’s best. Including Monday projections, the film should make $3.2 million over its four-day, limited release. That haul would be significantly larger than any previous North American theatrical release for the landmark feature, which will turn 40 in a couple of years and likely get another run then.

Nearing the ends of their respective runs, Toy Story 5 scored $693,000 from 1,100 cinemas in a major Labor Day expansion that didn’t quite pay off, while Minions & Monsters cut its dwindling cinema count in half to 220 theaters, but still managed to gross $195,000.

Global

Coyote vs. Acme rose to third place worldwide with an estimated $20.8 million for the weekend. The film earned $9.5 million internationally alongside its $11.3 million domestic haul and has now grossed $57.3 million worldwide.

Japan’s Chiikawa the Movie: The Secret of the Mermaid Island remained a huge international draw, earning $12.5 million from only six markets. The first feature based on Nagano’s hugely popular characters has now accumulated $84.6 million internationally. We’re still awaiting news on a U.S. release.

The Cars anniversary release added $1.9 million from foreign markets to supplement its $6.1 million domestic opening, reaching $8 million and finishing in eighth place.

Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie was just behind it in ninth, pulling in $7.7 million globally. Its $4.4 million international weekend brought the Spin Master franchise’s latest to $137.2 million worldwide.