Wile E. Coyote may finally get to see his day in court. "Coyote vs. Acme," one of the high-profile films that Warner Bros. shelved back in 2022 as part of its merger shake-up with Discovery, may soon be sold to a different studio - Ketchup Entertainment, the same company that bought the rights to "The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie."
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The sale isn't final yet, but Deadline reports that Ketchup is looking to pay in the ballpark of $50 million for the rights to "Coyote vs. Acme." If the deal is finalized, "Coyote vs. Acme" will hit theaters sometime in 2026.
Based on the Looney Tunes characters and Ian Frazier's "New Yorker" story "Coyote v. Acme," the premise of "Coyote vs. Acme" is hilarious all on its own. Wile E. Coyote, after years of purchasing Acme products that failed to take out his nemesis, the Roadrunner, takes the company to court. Will Forte ("MacGruber") plays Wile E. Coyote's lawyer and John Cena ("The Suicide Squad") is Forte's former boss and the tough lawyer representing Acme. The film was directed by Dave Green ("Earth to Echo") and written by Samy Burch ("May December"), James Gunn ("Guardians of the Galaxy"), and Jeremy Slater ("Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire").
In spite of a promising premise and positive test screenings, "Coyote vs. Acme" disappeared from Warner Bros's release schedule in 2022. At the time it was widely assumed to have been shelved as a tax write-off and the news inspired some volatile responses from the industry. "Coyote vs. Acme" star Will Forte said, "I can't tell you possibly why the decision was made to not release it. But it makes my blood boil."
Phil Lord, director of "The Lego Movie," tweeted, "Is it anticompetitive if one of the biggest movie studios in the worlds shuns the marketplace in order to use a tax loophole to write off an entire movie so they can more easily merge with one of the bigger movie studios in the world? Cause it SEEMS anticompetitive."
This apparently is not the first time Warner Bros attempted to sell "Coyote vs. Acme." Deadline reports that early last year, the film was screened to potential buyers with an asking price of $70 million, the reported production budget. At the time, there were apparently no offers.
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About the writer
Michileen Martin is a contributing entertainment writer located in New York. His focus is on Comics and Comic Book Movies. ... Read more