You’d think that Warner Bros. would know more about things exploding in your face. For more than 75 years, the studio has been producing cartoons about Wile E. Coyote, the genius scavenger whose plots to catch the Roadrunner are thwarted by faulty contraptions from the Acme Corporation. And yet, Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav decided to shelve the completed movie Coyote vs. Acme because he thought a tax write-off would be more profitable than any box office revenue it could generate.
Yet, thanks to fan outcry and the efforts of distributor Ketchup Entertainment, Coyote vs. Acme will finally see the light of day. And the first trailer for the picture has no intention of letting bygones be bygones with its old studio. The teaser includes plenty of gags at Warners’ expense, conflating the Hollywood stalwart with the inconsistent and unethical Acme.
The trailer lays out the basic premise of Coyote vs. Acme, directed by Dave Green and based on a screenplay by Samy Burch (who created the story with James Gunn and Jeremy Slater). After years of dealing with Acme’s substandard products, Wile E. Coyote employs a crusading lawyer played by Will Forte to bring the company to justice. Complicating things is not only Acme’s lawyer, played by John Cena, but also the owner, the apparent toon-traitor Foghorn Leghorn.
The blustering rooster threatens Cena to keep Acme’s secrets hidden, and says in the closing voice-over, “The Acme Corporation is releasing this film for accounting purposes only!”
That last bit may be a clear shot at Warner Bros. choosing tax breaks over Looney Tunes, but the entire trailer has a whole anti-corporate feel. Forte, costumed like he’s the most embarrassing member of the Spotlight team, rages, “These companies think they can do whatever they want. We’re sick of it!” Conversely, Acme’s lawyer trots out the time-tested tactic of blaming the individual for any of the products’ shortcomings.
Also, the trailer is full of classic Looney Tunes bits, including Bugs Bunny in drag, Daffy Duck going bonkers, and, uh, Tweety Bird with a shotgun. Not sure what that last one is about.
In total, Coyote vs. Acme looks like a delightful combination of Looney Tunes bits and courtroom comedy. That last part may be particularly important, because as wonderful as the original Looney Tunes certainly are—especially the Coyote and Roadrunner shorts made by Chuck Jones—the characters don’t always work in movie form, no matter what deluded millennials say about Space Jam. In fact, Ketchup Entertainment also rescued The Day the Earth Blew Up from Zaslav’s cuts last year, but the movie barely made back its budget.
If Coyote vs. Acme can capitalize on the goodwill we feel toward the characters and combine Looney Tunes wackiness with a successful legal comedy, then maybe Ketchup Entertainment will have a hit on their hands. And everyone else will have one more reason to laugh at WB’s lousy tax strategy.
Coyote vs. Acme arrives in theaters on August28,2026.
