Warner Bros. vs. the rest of us

Coyote vs. Acme is a box-office hit, but the only thing the public is concerned about is that it almost never made it there.

The new Looney Tunes spinoff revolves around Wile E. Coyote taking a break from endlessly chasing the Road Runner to sue Acme Corporation, the gadgetmakers that keep providing him with inadequate resources.

Coyote vs. Acme was announced in 2018, completed in 2023 and promptly shelved by Warner Bros. Entertainment to get a $30 million tax write-off against the film’s approximate $70 million budget. This was the third movie the studio had canned post-completion. The film seemed fated only to collect dust on a hard drive, but in March 2025 the rights were purchased by an independent distributor for $50 million. 

This August, Coyote vs. Acme saw a widespread theatrical release to a booming success. Because the tax fiasco was widely reported, the movie essentially marketed itself. It is one of the most impressive word-of-mouth hits of the year — not only has it broken even, but it’s also on track to turn a significant profit. 

But should we see the movie’s success as a step in the right direction or a victory that should never have to be repeated again?

In many online accounts, Warner Bros. isn’t just morally bankrupt for tossing the movie out; they’re idiots who don’t know what real audiences want. But that’s only partially true. They’re guilty on the moral front but, from a business point of view, Warner Bros. made the right decision. 

Coyote vs. Acme is weird. It’s a family movie with very little appeal for kids. Most jokes assume the audience knows about archaic Looney Tunes tropes and the American justice system — neither of which I would expect from someone born circa 2020. 

The cartoon-meets-court-proceedings jokes are hilarious, but it wouldn’t have connected with a demographic if it had been released as intended. If Warner Bros. had spent a blockbuster’s marketing budget and run Coyote vs. Acme in 2023, they would have taken a far greater financial loss than the write-off. 

This is what people who frame the film as proof of Warner Bros.’ incompetence are missing out on. The problem isn’t that big studios are blind to what audiences will see; it’s that they’re way too good at it — to the point that they are willing to trash their own projects to turn a profit.

The conflict between Wile E. Coyote and Acme has been read as an allegory for the film’s production, the persistent underdog against the all-powerful corporation. 

Spoiler alert: that Coyote loses his case. By the end, more than anything, the movie is about Coyote realizing that all he really wants is to chase the Road Runner through the desert, away from everyone else.

The industry has never been more insidious towards the people working for it, and if we want to move away from the Hollywood monopoly on what is being made, properties like the Looney Tunes need to be left behind. 

Warner Bros. has been making Looney Tunes for nearly a hundred years, which has arguably exceeded its prime. When fans hold on to these century-old franchises, it gives Warner Bros. all the cards, and it prevents talented people from making movies that are worth seeing, not just selling. 

If audiences and artists really want to escape the clutches of profit-oriented corporate producers, they need to let go of the franchises that these studios rely on. Coyote vs. Acme is good, but it isn’t good enough to justify the endless resurrection of these tired cartoons for the benefit of organizations that care more about profit than their own work. 

Even though Warner Bros. was the reason the movie was nearly erased, they will certainly find some sinister way to cash in on the movie’s success. All we can do is try to let Coyote vs. Acme be one last hurrah for characters that should have been left behind half a century ago. 

Just as it happens at the end of the film, it is time to let Coyote and Road Runner, along with all their peers, triumphantly speed off into the sunset while the rest of us move on and look for something else to do.