Coyote vs. Acme

Coyote vs. Acme was a completed American live-action and animated comedy film directed by Dave Green for Warner Bros. Pictures. Its story adapts Ian Frazier's 1990 New Yorker humor piece, “Coyote v. Acme,” while expanding the premise into courtroom adventure. The central character is Wile E. Coyote, whose repeated Acme Corporation failures finally motivate him to pursue legal action against Acme. Will Forte plays lawyer Kevin Avery, while John Cena portrays Acme Corporation's CEO and Lana Condor co-stars in the film. The reported premise places lawyer and client against Acme after defective products cause another disastrous attempt to catch Road Runner. The film combines conventional performances with computer-generated Looney Tunes characters, preserving the cartoon's impossible physics and escalating slapstick set pieces. Dave Green, who previously directed Earth to Echo and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, served as director. Samy Burch, known for May December, received screenplay credit with James Gunn, Jeremy Slater, and additional credited writers on this film. Production began after Warner Bros. approved the project, and principal photography took place in New Mexico during 2022 that year. Warner Bros. initially scheduled the movie for a July 21, 2023 theatrical release before removing it from its calendar entirely. In August 2023, the studio shelved Coyote vs. Acme as a tax write-off, despite reports that its production was complete. This decision triggered public criticism because potential buyers reportedly included Paramount, Amazon, and Netflix, but negotiations never produced a release. The cancellation also became part of wider debate about Hollywood accounting, completed films, streaming strategies, and corporate tax incentives. Publicly available reports described the film as having screened for executives, but Warner Bros. Discovery has not released it commercially. Unlike a normal theatrical failure, Coyote vs. Acme became notable largely because audiences could not legally see its finished version. Its unusual fate followed other Warner Bros. projects, including Batgirl, whose completed status likewise intensified discussion about unreleased studio films. The title refers to Wile E. Coyote's long-running conflict with Road Runner, but the legal plot gives that rivalry consequences. Although trailers and promotional material circulated, no official public release date replaced the abandoned July 2023 schedule in subsequent years. As a result, the film's documented history concerns its production, cast, completed cut, cancellation, and unsuccessful attempts at distribution thereafter. Coyote vs. Acme therefore remains a particularly concrete example of how a finished studio comedy can disappear before reaching viewers.