Apple is reportedly on the list of streaming services with the option to acquire Coyote vs. Acme, a film Warner Bros. made but recently decided to not release.
It’s a story of Wile E. Coyote attempting to catch the Road Runner from the classic cartoons. John Cena stars in the film.
Apple TV+ might buy rights to Coyote vs. Acme animated film from Warner Bros.
From all reports, Warner Bros. had finished making the movie before announcing last week that it would not release it. The studio did something similar in 2022 with Batgirl.
But now it’s possibly changed course and shopping the film around, according to Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter. It’s supposedly being shown to executives from Apple, Amazon and Netflix to see if any of them want to acquire the rights to stream it.
The film is live action with computer animated characters. IMDB says it is “a story set in the ACME warehouse, the manufacturer of anything and everything used by the Looney Tunes characters.” In addition to John Cena, it also stars Will Forte and Lana Condor.
What? Why?
The reason cited for Warner Bros. never releasing Batgirl was that the studio didn’t think the movie would earn enough in theaters to break even. Similarly, the company can get a sizable tax write off by completely squashing its Wile E. Coyote flick.
But the people who made Coyote vs. Acme are defending it strongly. Director Dave Green said on X (formerly Twitter):
“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.”
Comments like these, and complaints from fans, apparently caused the studio to change its mind.
