Coyote vs. Acme Officially Surpasses WB’s Final Superhero Movie at Box Office

After almost getting deleted as a write-off by WB, Coyote vs. Acme has stood up to its former studio and won at the box office. The comedy was a surprise hit, even after reaching cinemas years after production, and has reportedly now surpassed Supergirl at the box office. While official numbers are yet to be out, Ketchup Entertainment announced that the film has grossed $120 million and counting (via Reddit).

Supergirl was the next chapter in the DCU after last year’s blockbuster, Superman, and had a lot of hype surrounding it. It was supposed to be the biggest summer release for the studio, before its merger, as it was a DC project and had a star-studded cast. However, the film was a major box office disappointment and has not been bested by a film WB had almost deleted. 

Coyote Vs. Acme Avenges Itself By Defeating WB at the Box Office

John Cena in Coyote vs. Acme | Credits; Ketchup Entertainment

Coyote Vs. Acme has a true comeback story that could make a good Hollywood movie itself. Development began way back in 2015, with James Gunn pitching the story to WB, but the movie itself was only produced in 2022. However, by 2023, WB had decided to shelve the movie for a $30 million tax write-off, never allowing it to see the light of day.

That is when the fans came in, and a relentless pursuit led WB to option it, and Ketchup Entertainment bought the film for $50 million. When it was released in August, it ranked second at the box office behind Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and in its second weekend, the numbers only dropped by 29% (via Cartoon Brew).

It made more than make-up for its budget, grossing $100 million at the box office. While the box office trackers like The Numbers still put the worldwide collections at $101 million, Ketchup Entertainment recently announced that the film had grossed $120 million and was still going strong, putting it behind several WB titles, including Supergirl. The superhero movie has earned $126 million against a $180 million budget (via Box Office Mojo).

The comedy also beat several WB titles in 2026, making it a big summer release for Ketchup Entertainment. It surpassed films like The End of Oak Street, Practical Magic 2, Evil Dead Burn, Lee Cronin’s The Mummy, and They Will Kill You. Even Tom Cruise’s Digger is severely lagging behind with just $42 million worldwide. The fact that WB tried to axe the project and it ended up defeating several of its releases is a comeback story like no other.

David Zaslav’s WB Legacy Ends With Another Defeat

Milly Alcock in Supergirl | Credits: Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. was recently merged with Paramount and became a part of the Skydance Group. That means all of the IPs handled by the legacy studio, like the DCU, Harry Potter, and more, have been merged with Paramount. While studios are set to still operate independently, Supergirl was the last superhero movie to be released by WB before the merger. And it was a gigantic failure.

2026 has been a bad year for the studio. Many of its legacy releases have failed to work at the box office, including Supergirl, The Bride, and Digger. Compared to last year’s success at both the box office and the awards, with films like Sinners and One Battle After Another, this year’s performance by WB was quite poor.

Much of the studio’s downfall has been attributed to CEO David Zaslav, who was the chief of Warner Bros. Discovery until its sale to Paramount earlier this month. Zaslav was known for being cutthroat and shelved several projects for tax write-offs. Coyote Vs. Acme was just one such project. Many films like Batgirl never saw the light of day, and Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2 was buried with a limited release.

Now, those decisions seem to have gone against the well-being of the studio. The runaway success of Coyote Vs. Acme, a film that WB was going to just delete, and it surpassed many of the original studio’s films, is a sad metaphor for Zaslav’s decisions.

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