‘Coyote vs. Acme’ Drops New Clip Ahead of Its Long-Awaited Theatrical Release

Few movies have had a more chaotic path to the big screen than ‘Coyote vs. Acme.’ What began as a completed studio film ready for release has spent the past few years bouncing between cancellation, fan outcry, and an eventual second chance that few expected to actually happen.

That improbable journey is finally nearing its conclusion. The live-action and animation hybrid comedy, centered on Wile E. Coyote and his decades-long feud with the ACME Corporation, is set to hit theaters on August 28, giving fans just days left before the film they thought they’d never see finally arrives.

Building anticipation ahead of that release, a new clip from the film has now been shared online, giving audiences another look at the tone and style of the finished project. In the scene, Will Forte’s character Kevin Avery, the down-on-his-luck lawyer taking on Wile E. Coyote’s case, is shown greeting his colleague Dottie in what appears to be an office setting, offering a glimpse of the film’s grounded, human side of the story.

The film reimagines Wile E. Coyote’s endless string of failed Acme gadgets as the basis for a courtroom battle, with the cartoon character deciding to sue the company for producing defective products. Forte’s character takes on the case against Buddy Crane, the lawyer representing Acme, played by John Cena, setting up a legal showdown between two very different sides of the story.

The road to this release has been anything but smooth. ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ was completed back in 2023 under Warner Bros., originally developed as a direct-to-streaming release for HBO Max, before the studio infamously shelved the finished film as part of a tax write-off strategy.

That decision sparked significant backlash from fans and people involved in the production, placing ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ alongside other high-profile cancellations like ‘Batgirl’ during that same period. The film sat in limbo for years, with reports even describing a so-called “funeral screening” held for the project before its fate seemed all but sealed.

Its eventual rescue came through Ketchup Entertainment, an independent distributor that acquired the film’s rights for a reported $50 million. That deal cleared the path for the movie’s long-delayed theatrical release, turning one of Hollywood’s most notorious shelved projects into a genuine comeback story.

Directed by Dave Green from a screenplay by Samy Burch, with a story credited to Burch, James Gunn, and Jeremy Slater, the film blends animated Looney Tunes characters with live-action performers in a style reminiscent of ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit.’ Lana Condor also stars as Paige Avery, rounding out the film’s central legal drama alongside Forte and Cena.

The project draws its premise from Ian Frazier’s 1990 New Yorker piece “Coyote v. Acme,” using that satirical legal framing as the foundation for a story that finally lets Wile E. Coyote hold Acme accountable for years of exploding gadgets and failed inventions. Given the film’s unusually public journey from cancellation to release, its premiere carries a layer of cultural significance beyond just another animated comedy hitting theaters.

With the release date now just around the corner, fans who spent years campaigning for the film’s survival will finally get to see whether it lives up to the hype that helped bring it back from the brink.

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