‘All of a sudden the rug was pulled out’: How Coyote vs. Acme went from the shelf to the big screen

Lana Condor, Wile E. Coyote and Will Forte take on corporate malfeasance and abuse of power in Coyote vs. Acme, a film that has been a long time coming.

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In 2022, the cast and crew of Coyote vs. Acme attended a “funeral screening.”

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It was as grim as it sounds. Warner Bros. had already announced the finished film was going to be forever shelved. Studio execs had controversially decided to take a $30-million tax writeoff as a cost-saving exercise rather than take on the expense of releasing and distributing it.

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The film’s stars, Will Forte and Lana Condor, were among those went to the screening. The mood was not jubilant, to say the least, even though everyone was impressed with what they saw on the screen.

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“That experience of watching the film was very layered,” says Condor, in a Zoom interview with Postmedia alongside Forte. “We came in very confused and angry and thinking ‘well maybe, the film isn’t as great as we thought it was going to be … ‘”

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“The shoot went great, we had been hearing the post-process was great, they were already testing it and the testing was going great,” adds Forte. “All of a sudden the rug was pulled out.”

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“And so then when we watched the film and the credits rolled, there was this mass confusion and anger,” Condor says. “When credits rolled, we were like ‘This is a great movie! How is this possible?’”

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Coyote vs. Acme banks on nostalgia, with Wile E. Coyote brought into the modern day. VVS Films

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After facing significant backlash and negative media coverage, the studio execs changed their minds and allowed an outside distributor to purchase the film. Enter Ketchup Entertainment, an independent film company that picked it up and held another screening before its wide release on Aug. 28.

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The feeling was different the second time around.

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“That was a great watch because we knew it was going to come out and it’s a great movie,” Condor says.

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This strange chapter in the film’s behind-the-scenes story is being seen by some commentators as an indictment of the tone-deaf corporate indifference that seems to have overrun Hollywood studios these days. It is also strangely fitting for the tone of Coyote Vs. Acme, a story about corporate indifference and underdogs who never give up. Further vindication has come from early reviews, which have been largely positive. “Consistently funny and clever” proclaimed Brian Tallerico of rogerebert.com. “A cracking comedy that’s easily among the top ‘Looney Tunes’ movies ever,” writes Johnny Oleksinksi in the New York Post. “It’s smart, silly, and ultimately inspiring,” says Kristy Puchko of Mashable.com.

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Directed by Dave Green and based on a satirical 1990 New Yorker article by Ian Frazier, Coyote vs. Acme blends animation and live-action in the spirit of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Its central plot revolves around Wile E. Coyote’s decision to sue Acme, the massive corporation behind the endless trail of shoddy equipment he has used in his tireless pursuit of the Road Runner. He enlists the sad-eyed and defeated Kevin Avery (Forte) to represent him, an ambulance-chasing lawyer who specializes in getting small, out-of-court settlements from Acme for cartoon characters.

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Avery is joined by his idealistic niece, Paige (played by Condor), who possesses unyielding enthusiasm and optimism for the case even though it pits them against a behemoth and heartless corporation fronted by a ruthless lawyer (played by former pro-wrestler Jon Cena).

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The mute Coyote shifts from the antagonist of the Looney Tunes shorts to a somewhat sympathetic character whose steadfast belief in his own genius despite years of failure becomes the endearing centre of the film. What follows is a story about friendship, loyalty and perseverance filled with slapstick humour, heart and appearances by a long line of Looney Tunes favourites. That includes everything from significant roles for Foghorn Leghorn and Tweety Bird to savvy bits featuring cameos by Pepe Le Pew, Gossamer and Dr. Lorre.