There was a time when it looked like Coyote vs. ACME would never see the light of day. Fortunately, it finally arrives in theaters next month, and the final trailer has just been released (via Toonado.com).
In this latest sneak peek, we get to know Wile E. Coyote a little better as it's revealed that his many attempts to capture or kill the roundrunner have gone wrong thanks to ACME. Now, he's suing them, which also means Will Forte and John Cena will go head-to-head in the courtroom.
The mix of animation and live-action photography is handled very cleverly, with the kind of zany antics we're used to seeing in Looney Tunes movies also impacting the real world. Talking of the beloved franchise, this trailer is crammed with cameos, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Taz, and Tweety Bird.
Animated titles have done exceptionally well at the box office this year—Toy Story 5 and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie remain the year's highest-grossing titles—so Warner Bros. Discovery may come to regret letting this one go.
Talking to Empire, Coyote vs. ACME writer Samy Burch recently explained, "We had always wanted the film to be a love letter to failure. To reframe that word, because people don’t like it. That’s what Wile E. is doing — he’s failing every day. But that’s not what defines him — it’s his resilience that defines him."
"That plan to catch Road Runner didn’t work? Okay. He’ll get a new blueprint and make a new plan," she continued. "There’s beauty in that — in trying even when things are not coming easily and when you’ve failed a hundred times before. Which is sort of the story of the journey of the movie."
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 in Coyote vs. ACME.
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.
Development started in 2018, and a theatrical release was later scheduled for July 2023. However, Warner Bros. Discovery removed the movie from its schedule in April 2022 and, come November 2023, announced it would not release the completed film, opting for a roughly $30 million tax write-off amid post-merger cost-cutting, following similar moves with Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt.
That sparked significant backlash, including from filmmakers and a congressman. Bowing to pressure, Warner Bros. allowed Coyote vs. ACME's creative team to shop the film to other buyers. The studio didn't make it easy, and it looked like this one might be destined for the scrap heap. Fortunately, in March 2025, Ketchup Entertainment acquired worldwide rights for around $50 million.
Addressing the support for the movie, filmmaker Dave Green said, "Because these are characters that people have grown up with, who’ve been passed on between generations, when a corporation claims ownership and says, 'Actually, they don’t belong to you,' sometimes that doesn’t sit right with an audience."
"I was very [moved] by the immediate rush of people who came to support us. Adil and Bilall, who directed Batgirl, had my back. Lord and Miller beat the drum for us. Same with the Daniels. That moment of people standing with us was so beautiful. It was just an incredible outpouring," he concluded.
Directed by Green from a script by Samy Burch, the movie stars Will Forte, Lana Condor, John Cena, P. J. Byrne, Tone Bell, Martha Kelly, Luis Guzmán, Eric Bauza, and Merrie Melodies.
Coyote vs. ACME arrives in theaters on August 28.