Samwise Film & TV Marketing Newsletter
Monday, August 31, 2026
Ketchup Entertainment’s $10M Social Campaign Opens Coyote vs. Acme to $15.4M
Ketchup Entertainment opened Coyote vs. Acme to $15.4 million using just a $10 million marketing budget — one of the most efficient campaign-to-opening ratios this summer. The distributor built a tongue-in-cheek social campaign framing the film as “the film ACME doesn’t want you to see,” leaning into its turbulent history: Warner Bros. nearly shelved the title as a tax write-off before Ketchup acquired it for $50 million. Two Comic-Con appearances and an April trailer with 25 million views in 24 hours sustained fan momentum. The Looney Tunes live-action hybrid earned a 94% Rotten Tomatoes score and a CinemaScore A, the first Looney Tunes theatrical feature to achieve that grade.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day Surpasses Avatar 2 With $2.33B Global, Eyes All-Time Domestic Record
Spider-Man: Brand New Day passed $2.33 billion globally in its fifth weekend, surpassing Avatar: The Way of Water to reach the No. 3 spot on the all-time worldwide chart. Sony and Marvel Studios’ tentpole earned $22.2 million domestically this frame, bringing its U.S. total to $891 million. The film’s record-breaking $309 million promotional campaign featured brand partners BMW, McDonald’s, and Samsung, and produced a social media universe reach of 2.86 billion across platforms — surpassing the prior record of 2.4 billion set by Avengers: Endgame. The all-time domestic record of $936 million now sits within reach.
Ridley Scott’s The Dog Stars Opens to $8M Against $100M+ Budget
Ridley Scott’s The Dog Stars opened to $8 million from 3,330 theaters, stacking up as one of 2026’s costliest misfires against a reported production budget exceeding $100 million. The post-apocalyptic adaptation stars Jacob Elordi, Josh Brolin, and Margaret Qualley. Despite a marquee cast and Scott’s directorial pedigree, the film struggled to compete in a market dominated by Spider-Man: Brand New Day in its fifth week. Industry observers point to muted marketing, a dark premise, and late-summer positioning as compounding factors. The opening is tracking as a cautionary tale for adult-skewing prestige films launching without a differentiated campaign strategy.
Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Rein In Price Hikes as Consumer Tolerance Hits Ceiling
Major streamers are pulling back on subscription price increases as consumer tolerance nears its limit, per a new report from analytics firm Ampere Analysis. Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video reduced average annual price rises from 24% in 2023–24 to 14% in 2025–26. Ad-free tiers saw larger hikes ($1.61 average) than ad-supported plans ($1.21), widening the tier gap as advertising revenue becomes a more significant driver. Disney+ showed “the clearest shift towards more modest increases.” Analysts say platforms are pivoting toward subscriber growth, ad revenue, and password-sharing enforcement — rather than pricing — to sustain profitability.
Emmy Contenders Make Final Campaign Push Ahead of September 14 Ceremony
With the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards set for September 14 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, networks and streamers are making their final campaign pushes after an unusually exhaustive FYC cycle. Voting closed August 26, capping a season that generated over 450 official FYC events and 210 TV Academy emails since May 1. The Pitt leads with 25 nominations, while the final season of Hacks set a comedy series record with 24. Celebrity and showbiz documentaries are heavily favored by voters this cycle, with observers noting studios have shifted campaign spending toward intimate screening events and nominee-driven press.
U.S. Box Office Crosses $7 Billion for 2026, Tracking Toward Record-Setting Recovery
The U.S. domestic box office crossed the $7 billion mark for 2026 as of mid-August, running +20% ahead of 2025 and just 7% behind 2019’s equivalent frame — a year that ultimately finished at $11.4 billion. Driven by Spider-Man: Brand New Day, The Odyssey, and other major tentpoles, the milestone puts the full-year trajectory toward a potential $10.6 billion finish. Industry analysts are pointing to the results as affirmation that the theatrical window is commercially vital, with studio marketing campaigns built around in-cinema event experiences generating measurably stronger returns than streaming-first positioning.
Paramount–Warner Bros. Merger Projected to Cut 4,500 LA Production Jobs Over Three Years
A report commissioned for Los Angeles County projects that the planned Paramount Pictures–Warner Bros. Discovery merger will eliminate approximately 4,500 production jobs in the region over three years. The findings intensified opposition to the deal, with actor Mark Ruffalo publicly condemning the merger and some WBD executives privately hoping an ongoing state antitrust lawsuit derails it. The merger, announced in February 2026, would create one of Hollywood’s largest studio entities and commits to producing a minimum of 30 theatrical films annually. Critics argue the job loss projections reveal structural risks from consolidation for an LA production ecosystem already weakened by streaming disruption.
🎬 Box Office Top 20 — Weekend of August 28–30, 2026
| # | Title | Release | Weekend | Cumulative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spider-Man: Brand New Day | Jul 31, 2026 | $22,200,000 | $891,508,000 |
| 2 | Coyote vs. Acme | Aug 28, 2026 | $15,400,000 | $15,400,000 |
| 3 | The Odyssey | Jul 17, 2026 | $14,300,000 | $563,822,000 |
| 4 | Insidious: Out of the Further | Aug 21, 2026 | $10,100,000 | $43,630,000 |
| 5 | The Dog Stars | Aug 28, 2026 | $8,000,000 | $8,000,000 |
| 6 | PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie | Aug 14, 2026 | $4,875,000 | $43,311,000 |
| 7 | Mutiny | Aug 21, 2026 | $2,750,335 | $13,229,000 |
| 8 | Tony | Aug 7, 2026 | $2,220,448 | $11,053,129 |
| 9 | It Ends | Aug 21, 2026 | $724,304 | $813,849 |
| 10 | Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma | Aug 7, 2026 | $707,863 | $5,402,342 |
| 11 | Idiots | Aug 28, 2026 | $700,000 | $700,000 |
| 12 | Finding Emily | Aug 28, 2026 | $680,000 | $680,000 |
| 13 | Toy Story 5 | Jun 19, 2026 | $422,000 | $478,805,859 |
| 14 | Minions & Monsters | Jul 1, 2026 | $339,000 | $182,778,000 |
| 15 | The Magic Faraway Tree | Aug 21, 2026 | $285,452 | $2,159,044 |
| 16 | The Fast and the Furious (Reissue) | Jun 2001/2026 | $250,000 | $149,474,000 |
| 17 | Moana | Jul 10, 2026 | $170,000 | $126,061,370 |
| 18 | The Invite | Jun 26, 2026 | $112,344 | $25,697,764 |
| 19 | The Brink of War | Aug 14, 2026 | $90,220 | $4,953,573 |
| 20 | The Marching Band | Aug 21, 2026 | $63,700 | $79,630 |
Source: The Numbers / Box Office Mojo — estimates as of Sunday August 30, 2026
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Curated by JD · samwise.agency