'Coyote vs. Acme' Star Details "Maddening" Experience of the Movie's 2023 Cancellation

4 weeks ago 16

Wile E Coyote chasing the Road Runner atop an ACME rocket

Published Mar 4, 2026, 6:38 PM EST

Britta DeVore is a Senior Author for Collider who has been known to dabble with Reality News as well.

Have you seen stories about 'Chucky,' 'Scream,' 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer,' 'The Boys,' 'Vanderpump Rules,' or any of 'The Real Housewives' franchises? That's probably a Britta DeVore-curated piece of art, and it sounds like you have great taste.

When she isn't sitting behind her laptop bringing readers her hot takes on upcoming projects or keeping the dream alive in the Senior News team, Britta can usually be found outside hiking or inside behind her drum set. She currently plays in two bands, Kid Midnight and Watergate, both based in Brooklyn. An obsessive traveler, Britta loves long road trips to the South West and has a soft spot in her heart for canyons, rivers, and forests.

She also has a tiny cat named Athena that she loves more than anything else in the world and is always happy for new brewery recs.

Over the last few years, Warner Bros. has been making some decisions that have thrown many fans into confusion. From the cancellation of Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah’s completed Batgirl project to the back and forth surrounding the animated Looney Tunes feature, The Day the Earth Blew Up, it has at times felt like a complete cluster. But, few decisions have made us scratch our heads more than what went down with the studio’s live-action animated hybrid feature, Coyote vs. Acme. The title’s path from script to screen has been nearly a decade in the making, with the first rumblings happening all the way back in 2018. By 2022, principal photography was underway and a date was on the calendar for its cinematic arrival on July 21, 2023.

The first hang-up occurred thanks to the arrival of Barbie, which took over Coyote v. Acme’s slot, and then, just a few months later, Warner Bros. announced it was putting the title on ice. With post-production completely wrapped, many wondered why the studio was shelving the movie until it was revealed that it would receive a $30 million tax write-off. Eventually, director Dave Green was given the okay to shop it around to other studios, with Ketchup Entertainment finally picking up the rights and slating it for a theatrical debut on August 28, 2026.

Now, Will Forte, who plays Wile E. Coyote’s lawyer in the picture, is speaking out in a new interview about his frustrations about the choppy road to theaters. For starters, he’s already seen the final product and wants fans to know just how good it is, revealing, “I love it. I was so proud of it.” Considering his repertoire is largely filled with raucous comedies, Forte was hoping Coyote vs. Acme would finally be the movie that he could screen for his children, adding, “It was so maddening because it was this beautiful, special little movie that was something I would’ve been able to share with my kids.”

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Will Forte Didn’t Hold Back His Feelings

When it comes to how he felt after learning the completed project was getting the ax, the Saturday Night Live alum says he felt “Extreme frustration, fiery frustration, a lot of anger, white hot anger.” After cooling down a bit — something that was undoubtedly helped by Ketchup Entertainment giving the film a second life — Forte says he sees its Warner Bros. death as a silver lining:

“But then ultimately, that’s mixed with pride in this movie we’ve done. And also, who knows? Everything happens for a reason, and it is certainly possible that the crazy journey that this movie is taking will help get more eyes on it, because it’s a story people know about a little bit. But I don’t think we needed this crazy journey.”

Coyote vs. Acme will finally arrive in cinemas on August 28.