The Shelved And Then Sort-Of Un-Shelved ‘Coyote Vs. Acme’ Movie Now Has A First Look Image To Prove Its Really Real

Why does Warner Bros. Discovery honcho David Zaslav hate Looney Tunes so much? At the top of last year his company deep-sixed hundreds of their classic shorts from what was then called HBO Max. This fall they shelved the fully completed Coyote vs. Acme, which would have given cartoondom’s most doomed canine critter his very first movie. After much uproar, they announced they would sell it to a studio that actually wanted to make money off it. Now, for further proof that it’s real, here’s the first image from the film.

On the last day of 2023, Looney Tunes voice actor Eric Bauza shared said picture, which shows an animated Wile E. Coyote sitting in a courtroom next to his lawyer, played by an all-too-live-action Will Forte. “See ya in 2024!!” Bauza wrote alongside a bunch of relevant emojis.

It’s still unknown when exactly anyone will see Coyote vs. Acme, though presumably it will get released in the next 12 months. Whoever nabs it from WBD, who wanted to shelve it for tax purposes, as they did the Batgirl and Scoob! sequel earlier this year, will likely reap some serious riches. The $70 million production wasn’t only completed, it had already been tested, and audiences have been eating it up. Phil Lord, of such projects as The Lego Movie, the 21 Jump Street diptych, and the Spider-verse pictures, was among the superfans.

To make this story all the more delicious, the plot to Coyote vs. Acme sure seems apt, with long-suffering Wile E. finally taking on the heartless corporation that has made his life amusingly miserable. Surely one day the many who helped make the film will get to laugh at Warner Bros. Discovery for leaving all that money on the table.

(Via The Wrap)