Time to jump on that nostalgia train baby!
A live action Looney Tunes film is coming to cinemas next year, but it wasn’t an easy road for it to get here. The film is titled ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ and features the Wile E. Coyote suing the famous ACME company in which Wile E. purchased all his devious traps and machines to assist him in capturing Road Runner, which all ultimately failed and quite literally blew up in his face.
The story itself focuses on the relationship between Wile E. Coyote and his human lawyer Kevin Avery (played by Will Forte), however the behind-the-scenes story is just as disappointing for Wile E. The film was shot in early 2022 and even had a product that was shown to test audiences, which reportedly was mostly positive. However, in late 2023 Warner Bros. announced that even though the film was finished and ready to be released they would in fact not release it and instead took the film as a tax loss. The cast and crew were not made aware of this decision until after they had completed the film and were, justifiably, left angry and disappointed about it. The film’s star Will Forte even released a public statement addressed to the cast and crew:
“I know that a lot of you haven’t gotten a chance to see our movie. And sadly, it’s looking like you never will. When I first heard that our movie was getting ‘deleted,’ I hadn’t seen it yet. So, I was thinking what everyone else must have been thinking: this thing must be a hunk of junk. But then I saw it. And it’s incredible […] Please know that all the years and years of hard work, dedication and love that you put into this movie shows in every frame. That’s all folks.”
Since then, many studios have shown interest in picking up the rights to the film Apple & Netflix being two notable companies that expressed interest but ultimately couldn’t reach an agreement. It looks as though this film was set to never see the light of day.
Now cut to March of 2025, it’s now reported and confirmed that Ketchup Entertainment has acquired all rights to the film from Warner Bros. and they are planning Coyote vs Acme to get a long overdue theatrical release sometime in 2026. Coyote vs. Acme will join a series of live action Looney Tunes films along-side Looney Tunes: Back in Action and Space Jam!
