Coyote Vs Acme Is Apparently Dead Again (And This Is Nothing Short Of Vile)
Remember that brief moment in November of 2023 where we all thought Warner Bros. wasn't led by a soulless, money-hungry ghoul but by human beings who could see reason and allow "Coyote vs. Acme" to be shopped to other studios rather than delete it from existence? Well, that didn't last long.
In a damning report by TheWrap, it appears David Zaslav, head of Warner Bros. Discovery and eternal enemy of the Animaniacs, has reversed course and decided no one should ever watch the finished film "Coyote vs. Acme" even if other studios were willing to pay money for it. As producer Chris DeFaria told TheWrap, "They just want to get this behind them," referring to what he heard from a Warner Bros. executive in early January. "They want to close the books." According to TheWrap, Warner Bros. won't even announce that they were unable to find a home for the film. Instead, they would "unceremoniously delete it. Never to be seen again."
Part of what makes this an even more baffling decision than when Warner Bros. shelved "Batgirl" is that "Coyote vs. Acme" tested quite positive with audiences. As actor Paul Scheer, who saw a screening of the finished film said "it felt like the film captured the voice of the Looney Tunes that we love in a way none of the other feature versions have ever done."
Coyote vs Warner Bros.
The thing is, there were offers for the film. Plenty of them. Netflix, Amazon, and Paramount all reportedly offered to buy the film. Paramount even proposed a theatrical release, but Warner Bros. rejected each of the offers. According to the report, Warner Bros., who is set to make about $40 million from the tax write-down on "Coyote vs. Acme," sought to not only make more than that, but insisted on covering "negative cost plus" whatever fees they incurred. The asking price was then between $75 and $80 million from a potential buyer — without the chance to counteroffer.
And before you start calling the Warner Bros. executives names, TheWrap specifies that neither of the four Warner Bros. executives who made the decision to scrap the film — CEOs of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, nor Warner Bros. Pictures Animation president Bill Damaschke or even the world's most cartoonishly villainous movie studio president David Zaslav — had even seen the final movie. Luca and Abdy reportedly saw a "director's cut." Damaschke saw the first audience test preview. Zaslav did not even see a frame of it. And now it looks like we won't get to see it, either.