Fans thought that WB Discovery head David Zaslav was done shelving movies since Batgirl, but news had come out that the company was once again burying another finished movie with Coyote vs. Acme—a movie about Looney Tunes’ Wile E. Coyote and his lawyer (Will Forte) going up against the Acme Corporation, the company he gets all his Road Runner traps from.
It was reported that Zaslav was going to bury the film for another tax-write off; and multiple people online have started to express their dissatisfaction that a finished film wasn’t going to be released again. The crew of the movie even released this reel full of pratical effects used in the movie (now removed online).
Now according to The Hollywood Reporter, WB Pictures has buckled under the online backlash and has allowed director Dave Green to shop the movie to other buyers who are willing to release the film. For now, it looks like Amazon is an interested party, with screenings said to be held for potential buyers this month. Fans do think it’s odd that a Looney Tunes property is being released without the Warner Bros. banner, because the two have always gone hand-in-hand.
It’s also worth mentioning that the movie was written by James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy, Peacemaker) and is also starring John Cena.
When news broke out of Coyote vs. Acme’s shelving, a lot of people from the industry had expressed their frustration at Zaslav and his tax-saving methods. BenDavid Grabinski, who worked with Green on Happily, said:
COYOTE V ACME is a great movie. The best of its kind since ROGER RABBIT. It's commercial. It tested well. The leads are super likable. It's beautifully shot. The animation is great. The ending makes everyone fucking cry. I thought the goal of this business was to make hit movies?
— BenDavid Grabinski (@bdgrabinski) November 9, 2023
Hopefully Coyote vs. Acme finds a publisher soon. It’s ironic the kind of attention it received when it was supposedly being shelved.
