Will Forte, Lana Condor “Had Hope” For ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ Release After “Freakin’ Awesome” Funeral Screening
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- Coyote vs. Acme premieres August 28 in theaters via Ketchup Entertainment after Warner Bros-Discovery shelved the film in November 2023 to take a $30 million tax write-off amid the studio's merger
- Will Forte said the initial 'funeral screening' was 'freakin' awesome' and 'magic,' recalling he initially thought 'it probably sucks' before watching the movie he now stars in as attorney Kevin Avery
- Lana Condor said she 'refuse[d] to believe that a movie like this will never be seen,' holding onto hope from that first screening after the shelving made the feeling 'worse' because the film was 'so good'
- The Looney Tunes feature, directed by Dave Green, follows Wile E. Coyote suing the Acme Corporation and is based on a 1990 New Yorker article by Ian Frazier, with a screenplay by Samy Burch from a story by Burch, James Gunn, and Jeremy Slater
- Ketchup Entertainment acquired Coyote vs. Acme in a deal reportedly worth around $50 million, with the cast also including John Cena, Tone Bell, Martha Kelly, and Luis Guzmán
- Warner Bros-Discovery also shelved Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt during the same merger-driven cost-cutting push, though only Coyote vs. Acme has secured a theatrical release
Why it matters: Warner Bros-Discovery shelved Coyote vs. Acme for a $30M tax write-off in November 2023, only for Ketchup Entertainment to acquire the film in a deal reportedly worth $50M—meaning the studio collected a write-off on a movie another buyer valued at roughly 67% more. The August 28 theatrical release marks one of the few shelved Warner titles to find a wide-release second life.
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