‘Coyote vs. Acme’ Unveils a One-of-a-Kind Popcorn Bucket Made From an Actual Anvil

Few films in recent memory have had a journey to theaters quite as dramatic as ‘Coyote vs. Acme.’ The completed movie sat shelved for years after Warner Bros. Discovery pulled it from release in 2023 as part of a tax write-off strategy, sparking public backlash from fans, filmmakers, and even politicians who argued a finished film deserved a real shot at an audience.

That pressure eventually paid off, with Ketchup Entertainment acquiring the film for wide distribution and setting its theatrical debut for August 28. The comedy blends live-action filmmaking with classic Looney Tunes animation, following Wile E. Coyote as he hires a struggling lawyer, played by Will Forte, to sue the Acme Corporation over years of faulty, injury-causing products.

With release day finally here, the film’s marketing team has pulled out an unexpected surprise to mark the occasion. A newly revealed popcorn bucket takes the movie’s signature anvil imagery and turns it into a genuine collector’s item, built from an actual anvil rather than the usual molded plastic or cardboard theater merchandise.

The anvil has functioned as a visual shorthand for Wile E. Coyote’s misfortune since the earliest Looney Tunes cartoons, making it a fitting centerpiece for the film’s promotional rollout. This particular piece stands apart from the standard merchandise line already revealed earlier this year at CinemaCon, which included a set of four buckets and cups featuring a black anvil hanging from a chain above the film’s logo, alongside the names of stars Will Forte, Lana Condor, and John Cena.

Unlike those mass-produced pieces, this new item is a genuine one-of-one, meaning only a single version of this particular anvil-based bucket exists. Filled to the brim with popcorn and photographed beneath a glowing “Popcorn” sign reminiscent of classic movie theater concession stands, the piece has quickly become one of the more talked-about pieces of promotional artwork tied to the film’s release.

‘Coyote vs. Acme’ is directed by Dave Green from a screenplay by Samy Burch, based on a story she co-wrote with James Gunn and Jeremy Slater. The project draws its inspiration from Ian Frazier’s satirical 1990 New Yorker article of the same name, itself a parody built around the classic Looney Tunes universe.

Early reviews have painted a mixed but largely positive picture of the finished film. Critic Richard Crouse awarded the movie 3.5 out of 4 stars, praising how it blends live-action comedy with the anarchic spirit of the original cartoons, while other outlets have offered a more measured take on whether the character’s one-joke premise can sustain a full-length feature. Even so, several reviews have highlighted the novelty of watching a familiar cartoon world collide with a live-action legal comedy as one of the film’s biggest strengths.

Given how long fans fought to see this movie reach theaters at all, a one-of-a-kind piece of anvil-shaped merchandise feels like a fitting bit of celebration for a release that once seemed impossible. Whether this exact bucket ends up in the hands of a lucky fan or stays purely promotional remains to be seen, but it’s already generating plenty of buzz online.

The reveal also fits into a broader trend of theater chains and studios competing to create the most eye-catching physical merchandise tied to a film’s release, a practice that’s become almost as talked-about online as the movies themselves in recent years. For a film with ‘Coyote vs. Acme’s’ unusual road to release, that kind of attention-grabbing marketing moment feels especially earned.

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