Key Takeaways
- Coyote vs. Acme brings Wile E. Coyote’s product-liability case against Acme to theaters after Warner Bros. Discovery nearly shelved the live-action/animated comedy for a tax write-off.
- Inspired by Ian Frazier’s 1990 New Yorker article, the film stars Will Forte as Wile E.’s lawyer and John Cena as Acme’s defense attorney, alongside Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and other Looney Tunes favorites.
- Ketchup Entertainment acquired North American distribution rights for $50 million and released the film on August 28, 2026.
Coyote vs. Acme, a live-action/animated legal comedy, is now in theaters. If you’re familiar with 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit, this film is like that, but instead of Judge Doom trying to end the lives of your beloved ‘toons, it’s the actual legal system raining down on Looney Tunes star Wile E. Coyote.
Critics and fans of cinema alive have been imploring potential viewers to run, not walk, to go see Coyote vs. Acme, preferably opening weekend. [Ed Note: Truth be told, this is what you should be doing with everything you want to see thrive; in this case, first-week movie viewing.] Why is that particularly important for this film compared to literally any other film that’s dropped this summer? That’s because we almost never got Coyote vs. Acme. The story of Coyote vs. Acme hitting theaters this weekend started eight years ago and nearly got cut as a tax write-off. (One of the film’s stars, Will Forte, recently called this period “an emotional roller coaster.”)
Whether the film was worth the dust that has been kicked up in keeping it alive is up to viewers, but for those wondering why people ever care, here’s a look at everything you need to know about Coyote vs. Acme.
Shop the Comics Collection on Complex
The movie is based on a 1990 New Yorker article
On February 19, 1990, The New Yorker published “Coyote vs. Acme” by Ian Frazier, a humorous “what if?” in which Wile E. Coyote takes the Acme Corporation to court for selling him all those faulty items over the years. The film rights to the article were sold to Scott Rudin Productions in 1998, but no film was ever developed. James Gunn successfully pitched a “Coyote vs. Acme” movie to Warner Bros. in 2015. While the movie you see now is said to not be what was originally pitched, the spirit of the Wile E. Coyote Gunn’s project pitched remained.
Coyote vs. Acme went into development in 2018
In August 2018, Deadline announced that The Lego Batman Movie director Chris McKay would be producing the Warner Bros. Wile E. Coyote movie (which wasn’t called Coyote vs. Acme at the time); the article spent more time talking about the accolades of McKay and the Silberman Brothers, who were going to be writing the film. Dave Green was announced as director in December 2019, with the Silbermans now listed as producers, no longer writing the film.
By December 2020, McKay and the Silbermans were no longer attached to the project, and by March 2023, Samy Burch, Jeremy Slater, and James Gunn were credited with the film’s story.
Meanwhile, casting announcements were underway, with John Cena officially joining the project in February 2022 as the defense lawyer for Acme Corporation. The following month, Forte was cast as Wile E. Coyote’s attorney, with Lana Condor also joining the cast.
By the end of 2022, many Looney Tunes favorites were announced for the film, from Bugs Bunny and Tweety Bird to Daffy Duck and Yosemite Sam. (Porky Pig was confirmed in January 2023.) Using Who Framed Roger Rabbit as a guide, the live-action portion of Coyote vs. Acme was shot between March and May 2022, with Wile E. and the Looney Tunes characters added later.
Warner Bros. Discovery looks to cancel the release of Coyote vs. Acme
With a completed film—one that reportedly drew praise from those who saw it—Warner Bros. Discovery was looking to save some cash. (With their eventual sale to Paramount, the decision to write the film off as a loss and receive $30 million must have been attractive to WBD at the time; they’d already chosen to cancel the releases of Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt for the exact same reason.) This announcement came on November 9, 2023; by November 13, WBD had reversed its decision and was looking to shop the film around instead. This was likely caused by the backlash the company received for shelving the film.
This was followed by a round of screenings for studio executives, in the hopes that a competitor would pick up the film for distribution. By February 2024, no studios had satisfied the $75-80 million price tag WBD had on Coyote vs. Acme, and in the interim, the #ReleaseCoyoteVsAcme and #SaveCoyoteVsAcme campaigns sprang up online, with fans looking to make their voices heard as well.
In January 2025, Condor said the cast and crew held a “funeral screening” for Coyote vs. Acme when the cancellation news first hit. Could this film, which had been gestating since 2018, be saved?
Enter Ketchup Entertainment
You may not be familiar with Ketchup Entertainment, but WBD was; Ketchup was the company that released The Day the Earth Blew Up, an animated Looney Tunes film starring Porky Pig and Daffy Duck that WBD was going to release via HBO Max and Cartoon Network in 2022 before “restructuring” prohibited them from doing that. Ketchup picked up the North American distribution rights and released The Day on February 28, 2025.
On March 19, 2025, Deadline reported that WBD had reached a $50 million deal with Ketchup for the rights to distribute Coyote vs. Acme in North America, with plans to screen the film at Cannes for the international distribution rights.
Coyote vs. Acme finally gets a release date
With an original release date of July 21, 2023, that marks more than three years between Coyote vs. Acme’s original release date and its new one, August 28, 2026. (It was originally bumped from that date to make way for Barbie.) The film premiered at the 2026 San Diego Comic-Con, and hit theaters in the United Kingdom and Ireland on August 21, 2026.
Before releasing the first trailer, a quick short was released on April 14, 2026—the day before Tax Day—to announce that the first trailer would be dropping the following week.
Initial projects for Coyote vs. Acme have it potentially making anywhere from $12 to $18 million opening weekend.
Was it worth it?
At the time of writing, Coyote vs. Acme has a 95% Critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, with a slightly lower Audience Score of 92%. It’s made $1.7 million so far at the box office, but that only comes from sneak peek screenings and Thursday night viewings. The film’s budget was around $70-72 million, but Ketchup only paid $50 million, so that may be your base on how “successful” Coyote vs. Acme truly is.
That said, success can come in many forms. Coyote vs. Acme being a film you can go see in theaters is as big a win as you can get, given how bleak things have looked over the last three years. If you asked for this, the next step is to go see it. If all shelved films could be this lucky.
