Ketchup Entertainment Buys $50 Million 'Coyote vs. Acme' Deal, Sending Shelved Film to Theaters
Updated
Updated · The Atlantic · Aug 26
Ketchup Entertainment Buys $50 Million 'Coyote vs. Acme' Deal, Sending Shelved Film to Theaters
3 articles · Updated · The Atlantic · Aug 26
Summary
$50 million from Ketchup Entertainment finally pushed “Coyote vs. Acme” into theaters after Warner Bros. left the completed film in limbo for nearly three years.
Warner Bros. finished the Dave Green-directed movie in 2022, then shelved it in 2023 as part of post-pandemic cost cutting and a reported tax write-off strategy tied to debt pressures.
The film adapts Ian Frazier’s 1990 New Yorker humor piece into a courtroom comedy in which Wile E. Coyote sues Acme, with Will Forte, Lana Condor and John Cena in live-action roles.
Good test scores and public backlash failed to secure a release from Warner Bros., and earlier talks with Amazon, Apple and Netflix also collapsed over price.
Its August 28 opening turns the movie into a symbol of Hollywood’s unstable post-pandemic economics, where even finished, audience-tested studio films can be abandoned and later revived by independents.