If you went back to November 2023 and told Coyote vs. Acme director Dave Green that the Looney Toons legal comedy would premiere at San Diego Comic-Con, he probably wouldn’t believe you. Of course, that’s mainly because Green found out the film was being held by Warner Bros. Discovery as a tax deduction.
“For three years, I was fortunate enough to make a film about one of the most tenacious, passionate, resilient characters of all time, Wile E. Coyote,” Green posted to X at the time after receiving the “shocking” news. “But in the spirit of Wile E. Coyote, resilience and persistence will win the day.”
And win the day they did. Ketchup Entertainment eventually rescued the film and scheduled it for theatrical release on August 28th. “Coyote vs. Acme,” an animated/live-action hybrid that pits Wile E. Coyote against Acme, a company that intentionally released defective products, is set to premiere at Comic-Con on Saturday night.
“I’ve been waiting a long time to see their reaction,” said Lana Condor, who stars in the film along with Will Forte, John Cena, and other Looney Tunes like Roadrunner, Tweety and Bugs Bunny. “For me, it feels like all these years[all of]continued until tonight.” “I really hope they like it and I think they will. I’m very confident in that.”
The most memorable part of the campaign to save “Coyote vs. Acme” was a lone protester dressed as Wile E. Coyote holding a picket sign that read “Free Me” outside Warner Bros. Studios in the pouring rain.
“We issued a call to action: ‘Where are you? Show yourself, we invite you!'” Condor said. But Green admitted the lone wolf never came forward. Still, the anonymous whistleblower’s legacy lives on, as the “Coyote vs. Acme” team created one of his masks for last year’s Comic-Con panel.
“We figured out how his costume was made, and it was made of paper!” Green said excitedly.
While Coyote vs. Acme is in theaters, Warner Bros. endures yet another change of direction. This time, the merger with Paramount Skydance is imminent, and many in the industry are nervous.
But while the broader effects of the Warner/Paramount merger are still unclear (especially after the merger’s delays), the entire cast and crew of “Coyote vs. Acme” have a lot to celebrate tonight.
“So many people stood up for a movie they haven’t seen yet…and that’s really what Weil’s journey through our entire movie is all about!” Conder said. “I strongly believe that the reason this movie is coming out is because of the fans. It was an incredible experience. So I’m so excited to be showing it for the first time tonight, because this is what you guys fought for. I’m sure this fight was for a good reason.”
The film’s script was written by May December screenwriter Sammy Birch, based on the novel by James Gunn and Jeremy Slater. It is based on a 1990 New Yorker article by Ian Frazier.
Watch Variety’s full conversation with Angelique Jackson above.
