‘Coyote Vs. Acme' Cast, Crew React To Ketchup Rescue

An entire film’s cast and crew found out their thought-to-be-deleted movie will be seen after all. Let’s take a look.

It was a victorious day for fans of film, animation, and Looney Tunes against corporate greed as Ketchup Entertainment officially acquired the previously-shelved live-action and animated hybrid Looney Tunes film Coyote Vs. Acme Monday. Already, star Eric Bauza who voices Wile E. Coyote has been hashtagging his posts #COYOTEVSACME2026, setting stories to Handel’s “Hallelujah” chorus, “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast, “We Are the Champions” by Queen, and “Lovely Day” by Bill Withers. And while waiting for reactions from the bigger name stars, there’s still plenty of involved others to chronicle. And the victory all began with a man in a Wile E. Coyote suit protesting on the Warner Bros. lot. It's time to bring him home.

First off, John Cena, who stars as Acme’s lawyer, posted a screenshot from a classic Wile E. vs. Road Runner cartoon somewhere around 10 hours before the announcement, and that can’t be a coincidence. Actor and co-star PJ Byrne saw that and went “hmmmm”, before reacting “We’re Alive!!” to The Wrap’s coverage and “Ahhhhhh!!” to Letterboxd’s. More permanently he posted a carousel of images as a post, captioning it “Coyote VS Acme is BACK BABY!! Way to go ketchupentertainment !!! Dinner on me!! Can’t wait for the world to see davegreeen epic movie!!” Along the way, he tagged Joe Cobden, who’s voicing Foghorn Leghorn and posted to his own stories “Hooray! Much love to [the film’s director] Dave Green and all involved. I did coyote faces and Foghorn Leghorn along with the master [Eric Bauza and Ketchup Entertainment]. A movie about a little guy taking on a greedy corporation? AND THAT’S WHAT HAPPENED?! Whaddup now, doc?” Sharing the post of BenDavid Grabinski, one of the film’s most social media-active advocate, he then called Green “da best”.

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Green hasn’t posted to Instagram with any permanence since the film was initially shelved in November 2023, but Grabinski wrote Monday in deep praise of him, saying “COYOTE VS ACME is actually going to be released in theaters. I never thought this day would come. You would assume that day would come if life was fair and things happened the way they should. But somehow we’ve reached a point in this industry where finished movies can just… vanish. This movie rules. But it’s not MY movie. Dave Green directed a great movie. Oscar Nominee Samy Burch wrote a brilliant script. I just helped a tiny bit. Mainly by adding some dumb tiny jokes. It’s also how Will Forte ended up in SCOTT PILGRIM TAKES OFF. Being one of the thousands of people involved in the movie was a wonderful experience. For those thousands of people, the sum total of their work had just transformed into a nice series of memories. Now it’ll be what it was supposed to be in the first place: a big awesome movie in theaters. This is something to celebrate. Dave never gave up. Just like that stupid coyote. There’s probably a lesson in here somewhere.” Burch’s own Instagram is private so I can’t quite see anything on my own.

Actor Steven Ray Byrd, whose role has not been disclosed, initially reacted with a yell of “WE WON !!! We WON !!” promising he would write more later. He came back with a very personal story, describing “immense personal significance” as “Both my son and mother were huge fans of John Cena. Having worked on this project shortly after losing my son, I was deeply invested in its success. Although my role was minor, I was placed in an exciting scene alongside John Cena, which held tremendous emotional value. Witnessing the cast and crew's tireless efforts, I was compelled to fight for the film's completion, not only for personal reasons but also for the sake of New Mexico's film industry. Our collective voices made a profound statement, emphasizing the importance of allowing audiences to determine a film's success. I extend my sincerest gratitude to all who signed the petition and advocated for this film. This victory holds immense significance for me and marks a substantial triumph for the film industry and art as a whole… and to all the cast and crew and fans of Looney Tunes. We did it !!!! Thank you Ketchup , beyond grateful”. He even shared a watermarked still from the film, with Cena’s character crushing Tweety in his hand. A Byrd posting a bird.

Subsequently, he got a little reflective on his perseverance “I remember so many people telling us the movie is gone , stop whining , it’s crap , your movie will never be seen …and yet most people kept on believing. I they had my doubts for awhile but never gave up . I wasn’t going to give up on this film until I heard something official . I promise you that your voice had something to do with this film being saved. Ketchup Entertainment definitely heard you and Warner Bros righted a big wrong ..No more scrapping completed films . (wish they would have released it themselves but glad it’s saved) . So so proud of all involved . Let’s help out Ketchup with marketing of this film as well . We still have until its release date to promote this film”

Carsten Kurpanek, the film’s editor, tweeted, with a picture of his Wile E. Coyote impact crater tattoo on his wrist, “Three years ago we started shooting Coyote Vs ACME. The last 507 days have been painful to many of us who worked on the film. Thank you Ketchup for believing in Wile E. and our work. See you at the movies! 🍿”. And when the film’s composer Steven Price tweeted Deadline’s coverage with “I Tawt I Taw some excellent news....”, he quoted it with “The thought of the world getting to experience the incredible score SteveBPrice created for the movie fills me with so much joy! Meep meep!!!”

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While not someone who worked on Coyote vs. Acme, Nightmare Cinema producer Joe Russo was one of the loudest supporters, and upon victory called it a fucking miracle. We all pushed back against corporate greed and we won.” He also pushed back against the belief that none of this was worth it if the film doesn’t end up great, saying “First, COYOTE VS. ACME is supposed to be great. Second — Who fucking cares if it turns out to be meh? We get to see it. We get to be the judge. Not some corporate suits looking to fudge spending to trigger their bonuses. That’s the win.”

Ketchup Entertainment themselves posted, with the one frame everybody’s seen “💥 Coyote vs. Acme Lives! 💥 It’s official—Ketchup Entertainment proudly presents Coyote vs. Acme, coming to theaters 2026. Featuring an all-star cast including Will Forte, John Cena, Lana Condor, and Tone Bell! Looney fans & animation lovers, this one’s for YOU! 🎬🚀” Producer Vahan Yepremyan called it their “next film”. Based on the New Yorker humor article “Coyote v. Acme” by Ian Frazier (and by formality the Looney Tunes characters), Coyote vs. Acme follows Wile E. Coyote, who, after Acme products fail him one too many times in his dogged pursuit of the Road Runner, decides to hire a billboard lawyer to sue the Acme Corporation. The case pits Wile E. and his lawyer, apparently named Kevin Avery, against the latter’s intimidating former boss, Buddy Crane, but a growing friendship between man and cartoon stokes their determination to win.

Let’s top it all off with DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn, who’s credited with story contributions and is a producer, who tweeted Deadline’s coverage with a heart.

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Sources: Carsten Kurpanek (1, 2), Steven Ray Byrd (1, 2, 3), Steven Price, Joe Russo (1, 2), James Gunn