On Wednesday, April 22, 2026, movie fans received the first glimpse of Coyote vs. Acme (2026) with a trailer release for the new film that brings the beloved Looney Tunes animated characters back to live action.
For millennials who grew up loving Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003), it appeared to be a new classic in the making.
The Premise: Coyote vs. Acme puts the misguided antagonist Wile E. Coyote in the courtroom, pitted against ACME Corporation, the mega-corporation responsible for manufacturing anything and everything in the Looney Tunes universe. Even if you didn’t grow up watching Looney Tunes, you undoubtedly know the bit where Wile E. has an anvil, or a piano, or a comically large dumbbell fall on his head, followed by a sound effect and an elongated bump on the noggin. It’s classic cartoons in their finest hour.
As viewers, we always assumed Wile E. wasn’t as smart as the average bear and had only himself to blame for his failures and tribulations. But what if it was faulty products? A rope that was already frayed before it was shipped or rocket shoes that didn’t pass product testing.
Maybe it wasn’t Wile E.’s fault. And, maybe, he’s got a legal case against ACME. That is the movie, at least, from what we know so far.
The film will star comedian Will Forte, actress Lana Condor, and none other than John Cena himself. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Looney Tunes film without our cast of iconic characters. Though aside from Wile E., Road Runner, and Foghorn Leghorn, we aren’t sure the extent of each character’s role and involvement.
All in all, it looks like a witty and classic film. At this time, we don’t have too much access to early reviews or rumors, but the trailer, in my eyes, looked great.
The film is set to release in theaters on August 28, 2026, but for a point in time, this movie was going to get hidden away by Warner Bros. (WB) before a single soul could ever enjoy it.
We have a classic intellectual property (IP), a decently funny cast, and what appears to be a solid plot. So what was the problem?
What’s the controversy
Warner Bros. seems to be in a pretty solid spot at the moment. James Gunn’s new DC movie universe, which launched with Creature Commandos (2024 – ) and Superman (2025), has been off to a great start. The Dune franchise will certainly have another successful summer with the release of Dune: Part Three (2026), and WB is producing the new Harry Potter TV series, for better or for worse.
Though the impact of the purchase by Paramount still needs to be played out, WB’s current position seems to be looking up. But the outlook looked a bit different a few years ago.
In 2022, WB totally scrapped its Batgirl film despite already being in post-production, as reported by Variety. This news had DC and movie fans in an uproar. It made little sense to finish a film and decide to never let it see the light of day, not in the theaters, not in streaming, and not from private purchases of physical or digital media. A piece of artwork would be totally erased or locked in the same vault as Indiana Jones’ Arc of the Covenant. Fans were pissed.
As the article goes on to say, the decision came from bigwigs at WB determining the film didn’t fit its mega-move mold when it came to their new vision for DC. It would be blockbuster or bust. More obvious solutions surely existed, like releasing it to streaming as planned, but WB felt otherwise. Unfortunately, Batgirl wasn’t the only project that was getting axed.
As covered by The Hollywood Reporter, Coyote vs. ACME (2026) was going to be written off for tax purposes, buried alongside Batgirl. Again, fans were pissed.
But fans didn’t let it go. A few even took to the streets. Most took to Twitter.
It was enough, though. The fans won.
Following the public backlash, Ketchup Entertainment stepped up to the plate. According to Deadline, the production company purchased the global rights from WB for about $50 million in 2025. Now it has an August release.
But none of this would have happened if fans didn’t speak up for what they want.
Why should fans care about a movie trailer
The trailer is being marketed with the tagline “The trailer ACME doesn’t want you to see,” which feels like a clever dig at Warner Bros. for almost burying this film in a vault to never see the light of day. A dig made even more obvious by ending the trailer with Foghorn Leghorn saying, “The ACME Corporation is releasing this film for accounting purposes only. We do not condone any of the storylines depicted.” I see what you’re doing, Ketchup Entertainment, and I love it.
It’s not every day that fans get what they want, which is fair, considering that even fans of the same media don’t often agree. Yet, the response to this film was pretty unanimous. The creators shared that sentiment.
To an extent, film and entertainment studios should stand on business. Otherwise, every piece of media we get could be nothing more than fan service. Remember what fans thought Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) should have been?
Yet, standing one’s ground on deleting or archiving a piece of ready-to-go media seems silly to me. I’m no accountant, and I don’t work in Hollywood, but I can’t imagine the tax write-off is worth it. Plus, with social media, it no longer takes an insider leak to get fans worked up on a situation such as this one.
Still, it’s an encouraging development. Fans care enough to speak up. And some studios care enough to listen. If only game studios were doing the same.
In the end, though, fans are going to get the film they asked for. All we can hope for now is that it gets the same support at the box office. If not, we may never see this type of last-minute save by a studio again.
Meep meep
As both a movie fan and a Looney Tunes fan, I was excited to hear this film was being made in the first place and was glad when its acquisition was announced. After seeing the trailer, I’m hopeful that it will meet all expectations.
Iconic franchises like Looney Tunes don’t come around too often. There is a select few that have truly stood the test of time. How many Gen Zers do you know who remember the Jetsons?
I think studios are reluctant to put a ton of true time and effort into these types of projects, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t. It does mean, however, that they should make sure they’re completely attuned to what makes those franchises so great in the first place.
If you don’t know how to treat an iconic franchise well, hand it over to someone who does. And that’s exactly what Warner Bros. did.
Disney, take this as a warning to finally do something with The Muppets! The fans are asking for it.
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