Warner Bros. once decided that Coyote vs. Acme was worth more sitting on a shelf than playing in movie theaters. American audiences are now providing some evidence to the contrary.
The rescued Looney Tunes movie opened to approximately $15.5 million at the domestic box office over the weekend, landing at No. 2 after spending years at the center of one of Hollywood's most controversial shelving decisions. And new data on America's favorite Looney Tunes characters suggests the enthusiasm isn't limited to Wile E. Coyote.
A study published by Coventry Direct analyzing Google search activity over the previous 12 months found that characters created generations ago continue to generate significant interest across the country, with Bugs Bunny emerging as the biggest state-level winner.
Bugs generated the highest search interest in 10 states: Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio and South Carolina.
The results arrive at an unusually relevant moment for the nearly century-old franchise.
Coyote vs. Acme, starring Will Forte, John Cena, and Lana Condor alongside the animated Wile E. Coyote, and Puerto Rican actor Luis Guzmán was originally scheduled to be released by Warner Bros. before the studio announced in 2023 that it would shelve the completed film.
Warner Bros. intended to take an approximately $30 million tax write-down on the movie, a decision that generated widespread criticism from filmmakers and animation fans. After the backlash, the studio allowed the filmmakers to seek another distributor.
Ketchup Entertainment eventually acquired the movie for around $50 million and released it theatrically on Aug. 28. The film, directed by Dave Green and made for about $70 million, opened in 3,575 North American theaters.
It exceeded pre-release expectations and delivered the largest opening in Ketchup Entertainment's history, according to the Associated Press. It also earned an "A" CinemaScore from audiences and strong reviews from critics.
The result doesn't necessarily make Coyote vs. Acme profitable. With its reported production cost and the price Ketchup paid for distribution rights, the film still has considerable ground to cover. But the opening is notable for a movie released by an independent distributor without the marketing machinery of a major Hollywood studio.
And Wile E. Coyote isn't even America's most searched Looney Tunes character.
Bugs Bunny still rules the Looney Tunes universe
The Coventry Direct analysis compared Google Trends interest for 25 recognizable Looney Tunes characters in every state.
Bugs Bunny led more states than anyone else, with particularly strong results across the South.
The victory adds another chapter to the rabbit's extraordinary longevity. An early version of Bugs appeared in 1938, while the fully developed character made his official debut in Tex Avery's 1940 short A Wild Hare. The cartoon helped establish his personality, his rivalry with Elmer Fudd and the signature "What's up, Doc?"
He eventually became Warner Bros.' official mascot and one of the most recognizable characters in animation.
But some of the other results were considerably less predictable.
Pepé Le Pew placed second, leading search interest in eight jurisdictions, including Washington, D.C. His popularity stretched from Colorado and Florida to New Hampshire despite the character becoming considerably less visible in recent Warner Bros. projects.
Granny, whose full name is Emma Webster, ranked third, leading in Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey and New York.
Tweety claimed California, Kansas, Nevada and Texas, while Lola Bunny led Arkansas, New Mexico and Vermont. Lola's showing comes 30 years after her debut in the original Space Jam in 1996.
Elmer Fudd dominated Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin, giving Bugs Bunny's famously unsuccessful hunter a stronghold in the Upper Midwest.
Other characters carved out smaller pockets of the country. Road Runner led Arizona and Idaho, while Gossamer took Oklahoma and Oregon. Speedy Gonzales won Hawaii and Nebraska, Taz finished first in Iowa and Utah, and Yosemite Sam led Alaska and Wyoming.
Porky Pig claimed Montana and North Dakota, while Foghorn Leghorn took Kentucky.
One of the franchise's biggest names was notably absent from the state winners highlighted by the study: Daffy Duck.
A franchise Hollywood nearly underestimated
The Google results aren't a conventional popularity poll. They measure relative search interest, meaning searches can be driven by nostalgia, memes, news, controversy or new entertainment releases rather than simply identifying a person's favorite character.
Still, combined with the reception for Coyote vs. Acme, the findings offer another indication of the cultural durability of characters whose origins stretch back to the 1930s and 1940s.
The movie itself may be the most striking test.
Coyote vs. Acme follows Wile E. Coyote as he finally turns his years of catastrophic encounters with malfunctioning Acme products into a legal case, hiring an attorney played by Forte to sue the company. Cena plays the lawyer defending Acme.
Three years ago, audiences weren't supposed to get the chance to decide whether they wanted to see it.
Now they have.
The movie's roughly $15.5 million domestic debut didn't topple Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which remained No. 1, but it put Coyote vs. Acme ahead of every other new release over the weekend and gave Ketchup Entertainment its biggest opening ever.
Whether that enthusiasm is enough to turn the rescued movie into a financial success will depend on how well it holds in the coming weeks.
But between Wile E. Coyote's unlikely trip from a tax write-off to the No. 2 movie in America and Bugs Bunny still dominating searches more than 85 years after his debut, Looney Tunes may be having something Hollywood didn't necessarily see coming: another moment.
