Warner Bros. Has Written Off 'Coyote Vs. Acme' And Will Not Release It
The announcement comes over a year after it completed filming and the studio has a 2024 release calendar to fill
Just when you thought Warner Bros. was done shelving films, they’ve done it again. A year after shelving Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt, they’ve announced that they will not be releasing Coyote Vs. Acme, what was supposed to be the next live action/CGI hybrid Looney Tunes movie, starring John Cena.
According to articles surrounding Will Forte’s casting in March 2022, the premise of the film was this: After all of the products made by ACME Corporation backfire on Wile E. Coyote in his pursuit of the Road Runner, he hires an equally-unlucky human attorney, played by Forte, to sue the company. When Wile E.'s lawyer discovers that his old law firm's intimidating boss, played by Cena, is ACME's CEO, he teams up with Wile E. in pursuit of victory. Not only did the film star Cena and Forte, but now-DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn produced the feature and worked on the story. It was directed by Dave Green, director of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. Principal photography was completed last year in New Mexico. The crew was notified before the news came down. It’s especially mind-boggling as Gunn created Peacemaker, one of Max’s biggest hits, and it starred Cena. For Green, he urged resilience and persistence.
For three years, I was lucky enough to make a movie about Wile E. Coyote, the most persistent, passionate, and resilient character of all time. I was surrounded by a brilliant team, who poured their souls into this project for years. We were all determined to honor the legacies of these historic characters and actually get them right. Along the ride, we were embraced by test audiences who rewarded us with fantastic scores. I am beyond proud of the final product, and beyond devastated by WB’s decision. But in the spirit of Wile E. Coyote, resilience and persistence win the day.
The excuse is the new leadership of Bill Damaschke taking over Warner Bros. Pictures Animation. “With the re-launch of Warner Bros. Pictures Animation in June, the studio has shifted its global strategy to focus on theatrical releases,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “With this new direction, we have made the difficult decision not to move forward with Coyote vs Acme. We have tremendous respect for the filmmakers, casts, and crew, and are grateful for their contributions to the film.”
Originally greenlit for HBO Max back in December 2020, it was given a July 21, 2023 theatrical release date at one point. a month after Will Forte’s casting was announced, so in April 2022, the date was taken away and given to Barbie. It is a completed film, but Zaslav and his Warner Bros. Discovery cronies didn’t even see it worth a theatrical release or even to sell it to other distributors. This is despite very good test scores, 14 points above the family norm, and several studios, including Amazon, who already rescued Batman: Caped Crusader and Merry Little Batman, showing intrerest. Instead, they took the third-quarter tax writeoff worth an estimated $30 million on the $70 million production.
This news comes just after Zaslav whined in a Q3 earnings call that they haven’t “really been able to crack the kids” and wonders why after all the writeoffs and pulling from streaming. And as their 2024 schedule endures craters from delays due to Zaslav’s own greed refusing his talents fair deals that were only just achieved in the last five weeks. As they march forward, Warner Bros. Animation is seeking to release around two films a year, with upcoming projects including Locksmith Animation’s Bad Fairies and The Lunar Chronicles in development. There are also the Dr. Seuss adaptations in the works, including Cat In The Hat and a musical adaptation of Oh, The Places You’ll Go!. They will also be producing original movies as well as movies based on the studio’s IP, including Looney Tunes. At least filmmakers are already speaking out against this.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Twitter (1, 2), The Hollywood Reporter
They don't know what they've got at all. That goes for everything they own.