It appears that Warner Bros. Discover CEO David Zaslav took a page out of his own playbook after the studio decided to change course on Coyote vs. Acme.
The movie will be canceled and stored in the WB vault, never to be seen again, as opposed to being released in theaters or on Max. According to reports, WB Discovery will be able to write off $30 million of its $70 million production cost as a tax cut as a result of this decision.
If that sounds familiar, that's because Zaslav did something very similar with Batgirl and Scoob Holiday Haunt!
Coyote vs Acme was a project that was greenlit by Zaslav's predecessor. It was originally slated to be released on July 21, 2023. When it was pulled from WBD's film slate, its release date was given to Barbie.
This move is a bit more unusual than the Batgirl debacle because, according to reports, Coyote vs. Acme is 100% complete and even received very high test screening scores. According to Deadline Hollywood's sources, Amazon made an attempt to buy the movie for their Prime Video streaming service, but it appears that WBD believes that taking the tax write-off will yield better returns.
In a press release, a WB spokesperson wrote, "With the re-launch of Warner Bros. Pictures Animation in June, the studio has shifted its global strategy to focus on theatrical releases. With this new direction, we have made the difficult decision not to move forward with Coyote vs. Acme. We have tremendous respect for the filmmakers, casts, and crew, and are grateful for their contributions to the film."
Coyote vs Acme was directed by David Green and co-written by Samy Burch, DC Studios co-chair James Gunn, and Jeremy Slater. The film, a live-action/animation hybrid similar to Space Jam, starred Will Forte, John Cena and Lana Condor.
According to reports, the story of the movie would see Wile E. Coyote from Looney Tunes file a lawsuit against the Acme company after using the company's products to try and capture Road Runner and failing for years.
Forte was set to play Wile E.'s lawyer, while Cena would have played Acme's CEO.
With the news out on Coyote vs Acme, eyes are now turning to another Looney Tunes Movie, The Day the Earth Blew Up. Marketed as the first fully animated Looney Tunes film to be released in theaters, WB revealed at this year's American Film Market event that it expects to release the film in Q2 2024.