Wile E. Coyote Movie being developed by Warner Bros.

[TigerClaw]

Warner Bros is developing a Live Action / Animated Movie on Wile E. Coyote titled Coyote vs. Acme. The movie is gonna be directed by Dave Green, Who was the Director for TMNT: Out Of The Shadows.
https://variety.com/2019/film/news/looney-tunes-coyote-v-acme-director-dave-green-warner-bros-1203440879/

[turtle1237]

So I guess Roadrunner is going to make a cameo maybe?

[ZariusTwo]

The movie is titled Coyote vs ACME, and stars John Cena

https://deadline.com/2022/02/john-cena-warner-bros-coyote-vs-acme-1234935112/

[The Deadman]

WB has killed the movie, like they did Batgirl
https://www.ign.com/articles/warner-bros-shelves-john-cenas-coyote-vs-acme-despite-having-finished-filming

[drgon78]

They should have kept this one and Scoob 2 and just shelve all the DC movies since they are rebooting them anyway.

[oldmanwinters]

I wish the international hacker/cyber-terrorists would focus on breaking and leaking these “vaulted” films to the public!

[neatoman]

I wish this tax write off thing came with a clause that automatically committed the write offs to the public domain.

[oldmanwinters]

I wish this tax write off thing came with a clause that automatically commuted the write offs to the public domain.

Oh, yeah, then it could even be considered something like charity work to the public!

[neatoman]

Oh, yeah, then it could even be considered something like charity work to the public!

Right, if you're not going to distribute it yourself and can't do so for profit, what's the point of just keeping it in a vault? At least something like Infinity Train got distributed before they wrote it off, meaning it is out there in the public (even it's technically illegal to make more copies of it), this movie just won't see the light of day unless it's leaked. Making these things public domain would be for the best because:

Sharing copies freely won't be considered piracy and you could even keep an open repository of relatively recent works.
Anyone who wants to can make derivatives (provided you make sure it's appropriate in relation to other works of course).
The original distributor could still make money off these things, they just wouldn't be able to stop anyone else from doing so, which would probably still be incentive to keep the practice to a minimum.

[Andrew NDB]

Right, if you're not going to distribute it yourself and can't do so for profit, what's the point of just keeping it in a vault?


Because the tax write-off can almost nullify the money already thrown into it so far.

[neatoman]

Because the tax write-off can almost nullify the money already thrown into it so far.

Yes but once you have your money back that way, does it not make sense to just let the public have the thing for free?

[TigerClaw]

Yes but once you have your money back that way, does it not make sense to just let the public have the thing for free?
The problem is, If they were to release it, They would have to pay the royalties.

[Xav]

The test scores were supposed very positive so I have no idea why this was shelved.

[Wildcat]

I thought this was a really cool and clever idea. I was looking forward to this.

I personally believe it will get released one day. Hard to believe they’d never release a finished movie (Batgirl too, was not particularly waiting for that but I’d watch it). This just needed the characters put in.

[Hamato Yoshi]

"what's the point of just keeping it in a vault?"

tell that to Bruce Lee footage collectors.....Im sure his HK TV appearances are out there but its all about $$$

[neatoman]

The problem is, If they were to release it, They would have to pay the royalties.

Yeah, I guess that makes sense from a financial (though not ethical) standpoint, but it's still sad to just have these things never get released at all.

[The Deadman]

I thought this was a really cool and clever idea. I was looking forward to this.

I personally believe it will get released one day. Hard to believe they’d never release a finished movie (Batgirl too, was not particularly waiting for that but I’d watch it). This just needed the characters put in.

It wont get released. The only way itll see the light of day is if someone gets into the files before everything is erased.

[ZariusTwo]

This site is paywalled, but the article claims the film might have a second chance with a new distributor

https://puck.news/warners-reverses-course-in-coyote-vs-acme-fight/

[ZariusTwo]

Warner will be screening the film to interested distributors

https://deadline.com/2023/11/coyote-vs-acme-amazon-apple-streamer-acquisition-1235601190/

[oldmanwinters]

IGN tossed up an article on the distributor story too:
https://www.ign.com/articles/warner-bros-will-allow-coyote-vs-acme-movie-to-be-shopped-to-other-studios?utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A%20Manual&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR2RTfAeupnQTkEbDrn3G52OYPbz48rgCYHyAFjvs iIqZZJ-9WQHjLUKaVE

[ranger_scout]

Paramount is interested in potentially buying the film.

https://deadline.com/2023/12/coyote-vs-acme-paramount-amazon-contenders-1235658240/

[ranger_scout]

Warner Bros. is negotiating to sell the film to Ketchup Entertainment, which distributed The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie that is currently in theaters.

https://deadline.com/2025/03/coyote-vs-acme-movie-deal-sale-warner-bros-ketchup-1236329381/

[ranger_scout]

Warner Bros. has completed the sale of the film to Ketchup Entertainment. It is scheduled to be released sometime in 2026.

https://deadline.com/2025/03/coyote-vs-acme-warner-bros-sale-complete-ketchup-1236354552/

[oldmanwinters]

Warner Bros. has completed the sale of the film to Ketchup Entertainment. It is scheduled to be released sometime in 2026.

https://deadline.com/2025/03/coyote-vs-acme-warner-bros-sale-complete-ketchup-1236354552/

Glad to hear that! It will be weird to have a Looney Tunes movie NOT coming out under the WB banner though.

[Coola Yagami]

Ketchup Entertainment huh? I guess they didn't like mustard or relish.

[Wildcat]

I knew it would get released somehow. I never took the complete cancellation seriously. It was already finished and there is interest in it.

Wouldn’t surprise me if the Batgirl and Scooby movie get released eventually somehow either.

[sdp]

Wouldn’t surprise me if the Batgirl and Scooby movie get released eventually somehow either.

I mean they're finished or basically finished, they'll most likely be released legally as "the lost movie" and rake in cash after all the hype, despite likely not being great movies. In any case the movies will leak eventually so I'm not too worried about them not coming out.
It's the stuff that was halfway through production and unfinished that is the true "lost media".

[LeotheLateBloomer]

Good news to hear! I'm not sure what WB's problem is with not wanting to release Looney Tunes movies when they love to do more with Scooby Doo and Tom and Jerry over the years.

Still, nice to see this movie finally realized.

[ranger_scout]

The film is heading to Cannes to find international distributors.

https://deadline.com/2025/05/coyote-vs-acme-cannes-market-sale-warner-bros-1236389900/

[ranger_scout]

Yesterday at SDCC, it was announced that the film will be released on August 28, 2026.

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/coyote-vs-acme-release-date-1236471190/

[Coola Yagami]

Yesterday at SDCC, it was announced that the film will be released on August 28, 2026.

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/coyote-vs-acme-release-date-1236471190/

Is it like a rights thing or trying to find good timing and set up an ad campaign? isn't the movie ready to show like, today if they wanted to?

[ranger_scout]

The trailer is here.

https://variety.com/2026/film/news/coyote-vs-acme-trailer-released-1236726983/

[oldmanwinters]

Saw it today and liked it!

Ending felt a bit too convenient of a wrap-up but I think it’s plausible enough. Surprised they made a few Looney Tunes villains or under-duress antagonists. Film overall had more of an edge than I expected. Not quite as heavy layered or sophisticated as Who Framed Roger Rabbit? but it did remind me of it from scene to scene. The animation on Wile is great, but some of the other Tunes have a stiff and un-finished quality (almost video game like). All human performances are pretty good and John Cena especially hams it up. The film seemingly wants to have both the Tex Avery and Chuck Jones versions of Daffy but there is in-universe implications for that. I was stunned they gave the ol’ Peter Lorre caricature such a sizable role in the film’s backstory!

Really glad this exists and the public can finally enjoy it!

[Coola Yagami]

Saw it today and liked it!

Ending felt a bit too convenient of a wrap-up but I think it’s plausible enough. Surprised they made a few Looney Tunes villains or under-duress antagonists. Film overall had more of an edge than I expected. Not quite as heavy layered or sophisticated as Who Framed Roger Rabbit? but it did remind me of it from scene to scene. The animation on Wile is great, but some of the other Tunes have a stiff and un-finished quality (almost video game like). All human performances are pretty good and John Cena especially hams it up. The film seemingly wants to have both the Tex Avery and Chuck Jones versions of Daffy but there is in-universe implications for that. I was stunned they gave the ol’ Peter Lorre caricature such a sizable role in the film’s backstory!

Really glad this exists and the public can finally enjoy it!

Yeah, some of em had that Arc Systems Works look like Dragonball FighterZ. Foghorn Leghorn's eyes kinda bugged me.

The interesting thing is that cartoons and humans just coexist... But unlike Roger Rabbit, they just live as regular average no-name people. Like in Roger Rabbit they were actors that worked in animated shorts and whatnot and people knew who Bugs and Daffy were. Here no one knows who any of the characters are, regardless how popular they are in our world.

[oldmanwinters]

Yeah, some of em had that Arc Systems Works look like Dragonball FighterZ. Foghorn Leghorn's eyes kinda bugged me.


That's probably the perfect example in my mind. In the context of a game, you're surprised at how good it looks, because sometimes it makes you THINK you're actually watching a traditionally animated feature. Been in the context of an animated film, it just feels like... hey, did the model glitch out and cause Granny's glasses to disappear into her nose polygons? It's probably a result of the cel-shaded look not having clear lines to simulate ink-work but it looks weird. And Foghorn is probably the biggest offended because he has a prominent part where the audience has to "read" him while talking and taking the stand. And it all falls far short of the old WB shorts where he was over-the-top expressive.

I think WB doesn't quite appreciate Foghorn's appeal enough to render him with the same care they did with Wile.


The interesting thing is that cartoons and humans just coexist... But unlike Roger Rabbit, they just live as regular average no-name people. Like in Roger Rabbit they were actors that worked in animated shorts and whatnot and people knew who Bugs and Daffy were. Here no one knows who any of the characters are, regardless how popular they are in our world.

It is certainly weird, and I'm not sure the "universe" the film created for itself has any internal logic. Yes, that world exists where humans and Toons (or least the WB-IP ones) live side-by-side. Everybody has mundane errands to run and day jobs but... the Toons are arguably age-less immortals while the humans age realistically? And yet nobody really pays attention to these eternals to know them all by name? Daffy Duck is just some guy who worked for ACME way back in the day? Porky Pig is just a guy who gets inconvenienced by gag violence? Bugs Bunny is an unknown to everybody except the audience, and maybe that's the joke? And there's one law firm that occasionally settles small Toon personal injury cases for a few hundred dollars each time? I guess the firm is like a more professional but lamer version of Valiant & Valiant, PIs for the modern day?

Maybe it's a giant meta-commentary on how kids today didn't grow up saturated with Looney Tunes media and merchandising like they did pre-1990s? And maybe even how the Warner Bros. studio has never fully understood their own mascots (hence the tagline at the beginning with WB being a subsidiary of ACME)?

[sdp]

There's a reason WB shelved it, there's no audience for looney tunes, if this movie barely breaks even that just means they were correct all along since it got a huge marketing push and viral support to "stick it to the man", "We want to see this movie!!", all those grifters would not have shown up if it weren't the case.
I'm not even dissing the movie, I want to watch it when it's streaming, it looks fun. I was likely the last generation to still grow up with some Looney Tunes as actual icons thanks to Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon airing them in the early mid 90s and even then they could barely compete against video games, and all the EXTREEEME 90s animated shows we had. Their cultural significance died by the year 2000, they've been on fumes since then with each generation after that, it's been 26+ years of kids not growing up with Looney Tunes as actual characters you should care about.

[oldmanwinters]

It's worth remembering that movies like this can find a 2nd life on streaming even if it seems like it's asking too much to get people to go out and watch it in a theatre (with little to no traditional marketing).

[Coola Yagami]

You also have to remember not everything animated is for kids. While there really weren't many (or any) adult jokes, this one was for the people that grew up on Coyote and Roadrunner. And all of us are pretty grown.

[Andrew NDB]

You also have to remember not everything animated is for kids. While there really weren't many (or any) adult jokes, this one was for the people that grew up on Coyote and Roadrunner. And all of us are pretty grown.

That coveted 40-65 year old demographic?

[oldmanwinters]

That coveted 40-65 year old demographic?

Disposable incomes because less likely to have kids than other generations?

[Coola Yagami]

That coveted 40-65 year old demographic?
Pretty much.


Disposable incomes because less likely to have kids than other generations?

Also this.

I mean our theater was pretty full and I don't recall seeing (or hearing) any kids there. It was all us old-heads.

[oldmanwinters]

FTceZxXYZCw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTceZxXYZCw

[Andrew NDB]

https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/Looney-Tunes

So it'll be a huge flop and that coveted 40-65 year old demographic did not save it -- surprise! 2 weeks and it only made 19 million on a 70 million production and an unknown marketing budget (I suspect it was small, maybe 10 million). That's not even striking distance of "maybe VOD will save it later on!"

What's nuts is that it has been 2 weeks in theaters and has only made less than $100,000 internationally. No love for it anywhere but the US. I don't think I've ever seen a mainstream movie ever perform that badly overseas ever.

[sdp]

I don't hate to say "I told you so", plebs just don't understand how many metrics these companies work with, they know what will do well or badly for the most part so they shelved it. Sure there can be exceptions but no matter how much people "feel" things and tweet about it, it won't make a difference in the real world, data speaks louder.

[IMJ]

The real truth here is that everything that used to be an American social-pasttime has been bastardized and ruined by "boutique mentality". You used to go see a movie because it was cheap, fun escapism. Everyone complained forever that the "popcorn is SO expensive" but at the end of the day things weren't at a threshold where you chose not to go. People aren't going to go to f'n Wily Coyote for a ONE HUNDRED DOLLAR brew 'n view night, or even a 40 dollar night involving a "drink and normal popcorn" for something like that.

It's the same for almost everything - going to a baseball game was an excursion that people would decide to do on a moment's notice. Now? You go to a sporting event then you have to plan it as if it's a major expense. Every major company is fleecing the living $#!( out of Americans at this point and chalking it up to "inflation". But if anyone actually did any true "inflation math" you'd start finding out really quickly that these organizations are price gouging under the guise of "inflation". Just about any product has been pushed to it's upper tolerance threshold of consumer-support outside of the "inflation window".

It's that simple. So we can continue to watch Hollywood and the theaters burn.

[sdp]

This guy says it's a huge success and we successfully stuck it to the man. He says he's a philosophy major, and a comedian so I'm guessing he's biz savvy.
2ktD-8iY9-o

[ZariusTwo]

I wish people wouldn't obsess so much over vindicating or sticking it to Zaslav with the box office. It was a good movie, be content with that.

[oldmanwinters]

The real truth here is that everything that used to be an American social-pasttime has been bastardized and ruined by "boutique mentality". You used to go see a movie because it was cheap, fun escapism. Everyone complained forever that the "popcorn is SO expensive" but at the end of the day things weren't at a threshold where you chose not to go. People aren't going to go to f'n Wily Coyote for a ONE HUNDRED DOLLAR brew 'n view night, or even a 40 dollar night involving a "drink and normal popcorn" for something like that.

It's the same for almost everything - going to a baseball game was an excursion that people would decide to do on a moment's notice. Now? You go to a sporting event then you have to plan it as if it's a major expense. Every major company is fleecing the living $#!( out of Americans at this point and chalking it up to "inflation". But if anyone actually did any true "inflation math" you'd start finding out really quickly that these organizations are price gouging under the guise of "inflation". Just about any product has been pushed to it's upper tolerance threshold of consumer-support outside of the "inflation window".

It's that simple. So we can continue to watch Hollywood and the theaters burn.

I think you're hitting the critical nail on the head here. With movies today, you're not going to attract families and big groups to a movie unless it's a bonafide "event", usually one attached to a previously established blockbuster film franchise but occasionally one that makes room for respected directors and elite casting as in the recent cases of Oppenheimer and The Odyssey. It's just TOO DARN PRICEY to take a whole family out to see a movie that one or two people might only be vaguely curious about. You can mark your calendars for a Marvel, an Avatar, a Star Wars, or a Jurassic, but are you willing to take your wife and kids to see Wile E. Coyote vs. John Cena, Law & Order Edition and drop a bill of over $100 for the whole experience? Most people said no and will say no again. Single millennials who grew up loving everything Looney Tunes might be more inclined to go out and buy a $12-20 ticket and skip the concessions, but beyond those enthusiasts, the studio really has to depend on merchandising, licensing, and streaming sales in the future plan.

And it's the same with almost everything else, professional or big college sporting events, especially. Where does the line between "inflation" really stop and "exploitation" begin?

I'm guessing the Looney Tunes franchise has had arguably one single undisputed box-office hit with Space Jam, even though it was hated by critics and continually shat upon by people who take their Looney Tunes lore a little too seriously. Even with a generous analysis of it, it wasn't a great movie, but it came out at the perfect moment in pop-culture trending when the LTs were hip, Michael Jordan was at the peak of his global icon status, and big-budget 2D animation projects (with a little help from CGI) were still embraced by Hollywood and the general public. Every other attempt to take the franchise IPs to the big screen has ranged from disappointment to niche. I'm a fan who still wants to see these projects, but I'm under no delusions that they are going to attract big audiences and long-theatrical runs. Whether the theatres themselves survive long-term with the current culture and business model is still a very real question.

Unrelated but what I really came back here to share was this promotional clip from Cartoon Network's ACME HOUR where the Coyote absolutely catches the Road Runner and enjoys the fruits of his labors. I had heard about this back in my school days and just assumed it was some urban legend or some bizarre vintage short that only aired on TV once every year or something:
gXQLk7HDGtw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXQLk7HDGtw

[Coola Yagami]

We had a funny exchange the other day, the misses and me.

For context, we sometimes watch those 'two people in the woods build temples, houses and/or pools using only what's available in the woods' type videos. We found out that some of these videos are faked as sometimes you can tell either vehicles or power tools were used or it's clear way more than the two people on screen worked on the project.

Anyways, Jupi was watching one of those videos and paused it, saying she thought she saw something.

I randomly blurted out 'Did you taw, or did you tink you taw, cause I'm not paying you to tink you taw, I'm paying you to taw, so what did you taw?!'

She got a kick out of that. Later when she told her mom, she also got a kick out of that since we took her to see it and she also caught the reference.

[Andrew NDB]

This guy says it's a huge success and we successfully stuck it to the man. He says he's a philosophy major, and a comedian so I'm guessing he's biz savvy.
2ktD-8iY9-o

Mr. "Adam Knows Everything" is smoking crack these days, it seems.

[ranger_scout]

The film is being submitted for Best Animated Film at the Oscars.

https://www.goldderby.com/film/2026/coyote-vs-acme-will-submit-for-best-animated-feature-oscar-analysis/

[TylerD]

The film is being submitted for Best Animated Film at the Oscars.

https://www.goldderby.com/film/2026/coyote-vs-acme-will-submit-for-best-animated-feature-oscar-analysis/

Wow hope it wins. I’m going to watch it this weekend. Didn’t even know about this. I must live under a rock. The reviews are amazing for it. I’ll watch it Sunday

[Coola Yagami]

Guess we did our part. We saw it a second time a few weeks ago and this time we brought family. Counting mine and hers twice, that's 7 tickets we purchased within 2 showings.

[Powder]

The CG Looney Tunes had a bit of an uncanny feeling to their visuals but otherwise this was a fantastic movie. I'd put it right behind the original Space Jam. Did not expect it to be so Better Call Saul inspired.