I’m not saying I’m old, but I can remember a time when Warner Brothers produced some of the greatest movies in the history of cinema. Nowadays, they lack so much confidence that they are cancelling finished movies as tax write-offs.
David Zaslav of Warner Brothers has now shelved three movies. I can’t say I heard about Scoob! Holiday Haunt, but we all know about Batgirl. Batgirl was reported to be so bad that they didn’t want anyone to see it. Man, I would love to get a copy to review.
The next, but I’m guessing not the last, movie to be shelved was Coyote vs Acme. Back in the day, when cartoons were violent and funny, poor ol’ Wile E. Coyote would spend his days chasing a Road Runner.
He would come up with ingenious ways to catch the Road Runner, but would usually get hurt himself. Don’t worry though; it was only a cartoon, and he was always back for more. Wile would also use devices from Acme, like bombs, springs, and catapults.
Coyote vs Acme
In the shelved movie Coyote vs Acme, Wile E. Coyote hires a human lawyer to sue Acme because of their failed products. When the lawyer finds out that his old boss is now the CEO at Acme, he takes on the job.
Coyote vs Acme starred Will Forte, John Cena, Lena Condor, P. J. Byrne, and Nany Linehan Charles. Dave Green directed, with Samy Burch, James Gunn, and Jeremy Slater writing.
The movie was shelved by Warner Brothers just after the filming had been completed, saying:
“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.”
Green took to Twitter to respond to the decision:
“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.”
What a shame! According to reports, everyone who worked on the movie was devastated. It was said that most of the cast and crew had no idea about the shelving, even though the decision was made before filming had been completed.
Hope?
All of this happened in 2022. That’s when Warner Brothers officially took the movie off the release schedule. Over the next few years, they did look at selling it to different distributors, but no solid bids were placed.
Warner wanted between $75-80 million for the finished movie, but that was a little to rich for places like Netflix, Amazon, or Apple TV. Green crafted his own PR Campaign for the movie, but alas, it didn’t work out.
In February 2025, Eric Bauza, one of the voice actors from Coyote vs Acme, was asked if the movie would ever see the light of day. He responded:
“That is the question of the year, and it’s only February! I’m going to say yes. If this movie, The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie – opening March 14th, in theaters everywhere – gets a lot of money, then we might see Coyote vs. Acme. Stranger things have happened!
And if we don’t, I am going to put that movie under everyone’s seat as a DVD. No, I’m just kidding. I was kidding, David Zaslav. You didn’t see that here!”
So, is it not the end of the story? Might fans get to see Coyote vs Acme?
Fans Are Not Happy
Let’s face it, fans are never happy, no matter what you do. When comments were first made public, fans took to their keyboards and made their disappointment known. The hashtags #ReleaseCoyoteVsAcme and #SaveCoyoteVsAcme started trending in February 2024.
Even now, fans are still going on about it. In fact, one fan took to dressing up as Wile E. Coyote with a banner saying ‘Release me!!’ and marching up and down in for of the Warner Brothers plot.
A fan dressed as Wile E. Coyote protesting today outside the Warner Bros lot to release ‘COYOTE VS ACME’ pic.twitter.com/Fj59LkHSNq
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) March 11, 2025
One day, Coyote vs Acme might be seen, and we can enjoy it. Then again, Melissa McCarthy might be in a movie where she’s funny, these things might happen. In the meantime, we can all point and laugh at the decisions of the suits at Warner Brothers.