Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
San Diego Comic Con announced that the first public screening of the nearly lost feature film Coyote vs. Acme, starring Will Forte and John Cena, will take place at their 2026 gathering.
The official announcement:
"Wile E. Coyote’s journey to the big screen isn’t over just yet.
Coyote vs. Acme has had a story that feels ripped right out of the Looney Tunes cartoons on which its based. After the film was shelved by Warner Bros. despite being both complete and having strong reactions from early screenings, it was eventually saved from extinction by Ketchup Entertainment. To celebrate, they held a zany Hall H panel last year, with plenty of cast in attendance.
This year, San Diego Comic-Con attendees will get a chance to see the film early, ahead of its August 28 release date.
Available through Comic-Con’s Online Exclusives Portal, attendees can enter for a chance to receive a pair of tickets to a special screening of the film on Saturday, July 25 at 7:30pm at the AMC Mission Valley. Winners should plan to be in line by 7:15pm to guarantee entry, though here at the UBlog, we recommend earlier than that.
The screening will feature an introduction by director Dave Green and star Lana Condor, with additional surprises also planned.
The live-action/animated comedy follows Wile E. Coyote as he finally decides to fight back after years of explosive mishaps caused by ACME products, uncovering a corporate conspiracy and taking the company to court, with the ever-elusive Road Runner never too far behind…
The film also stars Will Forte, John Cena, and more."
The plot of the film - "After decades of being blown to bits by bombs, demolished by dynamite, mangled by magnets, battered by boulders, trampled by trains, tricked by tunnels, sprung by springs, steamrolled by steamrollers, maligned by misfires, bedeviled by bungees, rattled by rockets, backstabbed by bat suits, rocked by rocket skates, upended by unicycles, quaked by quake pills, rubberized by rogue bands, and hurled headlong off every cliff in the Southwest, Wile E. Coyote (Genius) finally fights back. Teaming up with billboard accident lawyer Kevin Avery (Will Forte), he takes on slick corporate counsel Buddy Crane (John Cena) and ACME, Inc., the profit-obsessed conglomerate behind every one of the Coyote’s chaotic catastrophes"
WBD, which shelved the film after it was completed, sold the film to Ketchup Entertainment for $50 million in March. Ketchup purchased the distribution for the recently released Daffy Duck and Porky Pig animated theatrical film The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie (which was a GREAT film). Deadline is reporting Coyote will now get a 2026 theatrical run.
John Cena was asked about WBD's decision to scuttle the completed project while promoting his Prime Video film Jackpot!, commenting, "There's a lot there and everyone's perspective is different. We don't own the film. That's the tough part about this business, you do have a sense of ownership because you invest heart and soul. And [director] Dave Green and everybody involved, we made what we thought was a good movie. I would have liked to seen it given a chance, but I'm just one person. And if it was shelved, I would have to think that it was shelved for the right reasons and it was a good business decision. I think I would have tremendous regret and shame if I look back on the legacy of the movie and it was shelved for reasons other than that. So I have to believe in the process. And I love the movie, my heart and soul is in there, but it's somebody else's project to do what they want with and they've chosen accordingly."
The film tells the tale of "a down-on-his-luck (human) attorney who takes on Wile E Coyote. as a client in his suit against Acme over its defective products, only to discover that his boss at his former law firm is representing Acme."
In November 2023, The Hollywood Reporter reported that the film had been canceled by Warner Bros Discovery and would not be released despite filming having been completed on the live action-CGI film. Cena was to play Coyote's former boss at Acme.
Actor Will Forte, who stars alongside Cena in the film, blasted WBD for shelving the completed project. “My thoughts were that it’s f--king bullsh--,” Forte told MovieWeb. “It is such a delightful movie. It deserves so much better than it got. I can’t tell you possibly why the decision was made to not release it. But it makes my blood boil. Thank you for asking me about it because I like talking about the movie because I don’t want people to forget what [Warner Bros.] did to this. I appreciate them letting us make it, but don’t let us make this thing that we fall in love with and then not show it. I would understand if the thing sucked, but it’s really good. Maybe somehow we get to see it at some point. I hope people do. I was really proud of it.”
WBD initially decided not to release the film in order to take a big tax break. They had made similar decisions on a Scooby Doo animated film that was finished, Holiday Haunt as well as most famously, a Batgirl live action film film that was to have featured Michael Keaton, which was in post-production at the time the film was shut down, taken out of the hands of the filmmakers, was never completed and will never be seen.
“With the re-launch of Warner Bros. Pictures Animation in June, the studio has shifted its global strategy to focus on theatrical releases,” a WB Motion Picture Group spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement in 2023 “With this new direction, we have made the difficult decision not to move forward with Coyote vs Acme. We have tremendous respect for the filmmakers, casts, and crew, and are grateful for their contributions to the film.”
After great backlash to the Coyote being shelved, Deadline Hollywood reported in December 2023 that Netflix and Paramount made formal bids for the hybrid live-action animated comedy starring John Cena. Paramount's proposal would feature a 2024 theatrical release along with streaming. Deadline sources stated at the time that Warner Bros. Discovery wants "$70 million and then some" which would cover the initial tax write-off for Warner Bros. Discovery wanted. Reportedly, Amazon was also mulling over putting in a bid, while Apple and Sony who had also seen the film, were not.
In 2023, the film's Director Dave Green wrote on his social media, "For three years, I was lucky enough to make a movie about Wile E. Coyote, the most persistent, passionate, and resilient character of all time. I was surrounded by a brilliant team, who poured their souls into this project for years. We were all determined to honor the legacies of these historic characters and actually get them right. Along the ride, we were embraced by test audiences who rewarded us with fantastic scores. I am beyond proud of the final product, and beyond devastated by WB's decision. But in the spirit of Wile E. Coyote, resilience and persistence win the day."
The Wrap later reported that WBD just wants to "close the book" on the film and take the tax break. WBD head David Zaslav was reported at the time to have never actually watched the film and according to the report, was looking to "delete the film."
Thankfully, in the end, that was not the case and the film has been salvaged by Ketchup. It will be released theatrically this August.
Production took place in 2022 in New Mexico.
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
Bang On Casino
