LOS ANGELES — Coyote vs. Acme, the completed Looney Tunes movie that Warner Bros. once planned never to release, has finally arrived in U.S. theaters nearly three years after its cancellation sparked an unusually public backlash in Hollywood.
The live-action and animated comedy opened Friday, Aug. 28, through independent distributor Ketchup Entertainment. It stars Will Forte, John Cena and Lana Condor alongside Wile E. Coyote and other characters from the Looney Tunes franchise.
Directed by Dave Green, the film follows Wile E. Coyote after years of failed products from the fictional Acme Corporation leave him battered and frustrated. He hires a lawyer, played by Forte, and takes the company to court.
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The movie’s path to theaters became almost as notable as its premise.
Warner Bros. completed Coyote vs. Acme before announcing in 2023 that it would shelve the movie rather than release it. The film had a production cost of about $70 million, and releasing it theatrically was expected to require an additional $30 million to $40 million in marketing expenses.
Instead, the studio planned to take a tax write-off.
The decision drew criticism from filmmakers, actors and animation fans, particularly because the movie was already completed and had reportedly performed well during test screenings.
Warner Bros. had taken similar action with other completed projects, including Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt, as the company reassessed its film and streaming strategy following the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger.
The reaction to Coyote vs. Acme, however, continued long after the initial announcement.
Filmmakers including Christopher Miller, Phil Lord, Daniel Kwan, and Daniel Scheinert publicly supported the release of the movie, while fans promoted the #ReleaseCoyoteVsAcme campaign online.
Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro also criticized the decision and called for federal authorities to examine Warner Bros.’ practice of shelving completed films.
Warner Bros. ultimately allowed the movie to be offered to other distributors.
Ketchup Entertainment acquired the film for about $50 million and announced that it would receive a theatrical release. The distributor previously released another Looney Tunes feature, The Day the Earth Blew Up.
Ketchup said earlier this year that Coyote vs. Acme would receive a wide rollout on more than 3,000 screens, making it one of the independent distributor’s largest theatrical releases.
The film had its Los Angeles premiere this week, with Forte, Cena, Condor, and members of the production team in attendance.
Its unusual history has also become part of the film’s marketing.
The campaign has played on the similarities between Wile E. Coyote’s fictional fight against a powerful corporation and the filmmakers’ real-life struggle to get the movie released.
The film itself originated with a 1990 satirical piece by writer Ian Frazier in The New Yorker, in which the perpetually unsuccessful Coyote sues Acme over the dangerous products he repeatedly purchases.
Green developed that idea into a hybrid of a courtroom comedy and traditional Looney Tunes physical humor.
Forte plays struggling attorney Kevin Avery, while Cena plays an attorney representing Acme. Condor also stars, and longtime voice actor Eric Bauza provides voices for several Looney Tunes characters.
For those involved in the production, Friday’s release ends a period when there was a genuine possibility that audiences would never see the finished movie.
Forte has said that when he eventually watched the completed film after learning it had been canceled, the experience made the decision even more difficult to understand. Director Green has similarly described his surprise at finally being able to promote the film publicly.
The episode became part of a larger debate in Hollywood over whether studios should be able to permanently shelve completed movies for financial or tax reasons.
With Coyote vs. Acme now playing in theaters, one of the most prominent examples of that practice has ultimately received the release its cast, filmmakers, and supporters had spent years seeking.
