Samwise Film & TV Marketing Newsletter
Tuesday, September 1, 2026
Spider-Man: Brand New Day Closing In on $900M Domestic in Fifth-Weekend Hold
Spider-Man: Brand New Day added $22.5 million in its fifth North American weekend, a 42 percent drop from its previous frame. Sony’s record-setting tentpole—which beat Avengers: Endgame’s opening-day and opening-weekend records when it debuted in late July—now sits at $891.8 million cumulatively, closing in on the $900 million domestic milestone. The film played across 3,678 theaters, maintaining wide exhibition nearly a month after its debut. Starring Tom Holland, it has defined summer 2026 alongside Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, together powering one of the strongest domestic summer seasons on record.
Coyote vs. Acme’s Viral Campaign Delivers $15.9M Opening at No. 2
Coyote vs. Acme opened to $15.9 million at the North American box office, the biggest launch in Ketchup Entertainment’s history. The film previously viewed as unreleasable by Warner Bros. achieved this figure on a reported $10 million marketing budget, powered by a campaign that branded WB as a fictional ACME subsidiary and positioned the film as “the movie ACME doesn’t want you to see.” Releasing in 3,575 theaters, the hybrid live-action and animated film stars Will Forte, Lana Condor, and John Cena. It debuted at No. 2 for the weekend, surpassing Ridley Scott’s more expensive The Dog Stars, which landed at No. 5.
Dog Stars Bombs With $8M Opening; Minimal Marketing Blamed
The Dog Stars, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Jacob Elordi, opened to just $8 million domestically in its debut weekend, landing at No. 5 on the chart. The result represents a significant disappointment for Disney and 20th Century given the film’s reported $70 million production budget. The apocalyptic survivalist drama received a 36% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and struggled with core demographics: women under 25 made up just 6% of the opening-weekend audience. The underperformance drew industry attention to the film’s minimal marketing presence ahead of its August release.
Summer 2026 Box Office Closes Near-Record $4.6B; Second-Best Season Ever
The U.S. domestic box office closed out summer 2026 at an estimated $4.612 billion through August 31—the second-highest 123-day summer season on record, per Deadline. Only summer 2013’s record of $4.755 billion ranks higher. The season was powered primarily by Sony’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Universal’s The Odyssey, which together drove the YTD domestic total past $6 billion. It marks the second consecutive summer to exceed $4 billion following the post-pandemic recovery. Labor Day weekend—running through September 7—will add to the final tally, with an all-time summer record still technically in reach.
Anonymous Emmy Ballots: The Pitt Poised for Drama Win; Widow’s Bay Leads Comedy
Variety surveyed dozens of Television Academy members across 31 professional peer groups in the final days of voting for the 78th Emmy Awards, promising anonymity in exchange for candid responses. Respondents indicated that The Pitt is poised to win drama “in a runaway,” while comedy is a two-way race between Widow’s Bay and Hacks, with Widow’s Bay holding a “considerable edge.” A recurring theme was how little of the eligible field voters had actually watched before casting ballots. The 78th Emmy ceremony is scheduled across the first two weekends of September 2026, with votes now closed.
Colbert Endorses Kimmel for Emmy in Viral Video, Returning Last Year’s Billboard Favor
Stephen Colbert endorsed Jimmy Kimmel in a social media video for the Emmy in outstanding variety series, returning a favor from last year. Appearing bearded on a windswept coastline and alluding to his recent departure from The Late Show, Colbert said: “I think we can all agree that Jimmy Kimmel deserves an Emmy.” Last year, when Colbert was competing against Kimmel, Kimmel ran a West Hollywood billboard reading “I’m voting for Stephen”—after which Colbert won the category. The Television Academy has merged its former talk and scripted variety categories into a single race, with five nominees including Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Saturday Night Live.
Universal First Studio to Hit $3B International in 2026; Dog Stars Bombs Globally
Universal Pictures became the first studio to cross $3 billion at the international box office in 2026, driven primarily by The Odyssey from director Christopher Nolan. The film earned $563.8 million domestically over 45 days of release and performed strongly in global markets, anchoring Universal’s international milestone. In contrast, Ridley Scott’s The Dog Stars disappointed globally as well as domestically; Variety’s Australian edition reported the film fell flat in that market on its opening weekend. The global milestone positions Universal as the summer’s dominant international distributor heading into the fall season.
Weekend Box Office — Aug. 28–30, 2026 (Top 20)
Source: The Numbers / the-numbers.com
| # | FILM | WEEKEND | CUMULATIVE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spider-Man: Brand New Day | $22,500,000 | $891,808,000 |
| 2 | Coyote vs. Acme | $15,914,007 | $15,914,007 |
| 3 | The Odyssey | $14,300,000 | $563,822,000 |
| 4 | Insidious: Out of the Further | $10,175,000 | $43,705,000 |
| 5 | The Dog Stars | $8,000,000 | $8,000,000 |
| 6 | Buddy | $5,360,000 | $5,360,000 |
| 7 | The End of Oak Street | $4,950,000 | $46,030,000 |
| 8 | PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie | $4,875,000 | $43,311,000 |
| 9 | Mutiny | $2,750,335 | $13,229,000 |
| 10 | Tony | $2,220,448 | $11,053,129 |
| 11 | Spa Weekend | $1,184,100 | $5,645,100 |
| 12 | It Ends | $724,304 | $813,849 |
| 13 | Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma | $707,863 | $5,402,342 |
| 14 | Idiots | $700,000 | $700,000 |
| 15 | Finding Emily | $680,000 | $680,000 |
| 16 | Toy Story 5 | $422,000 | $478,805,859 |
| 17 | Minions & Monsters | $339,000 | $182,778,000 |
| 18 | The Magic Faraway Tree | $285,452 | $2,159,044 |
| 19 | The Fast and the Furious | $250,000 | $149,474,000 |
| 20 | Moana (2026) | $170,000 | $126,061,370 |
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Curated by JD · samwise.agency
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