Before anyone saw a frame of “Coyote vs. Acme,” the film had already become a minor Hollywood scandal. Warner Bros. shelved the completed movie for a tax write-off, only for it to claw its way back into theaters after months of outrage and industry disbelief.
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Now, the first trailer offers a long-awaited look at the live-action/animation hybrid that became one of the more notorious shelving stories in recent studio memory. Directed by Dave Green, the film stars Will Forte, John Cena, and Lana Condor, and is set to open in theaters on August 28, 2026.
The premise is as clean as it is inspired. After decades of being blown up, flattened, crushed, and humiliated by defective Acme products in his endless pursuit of the Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote finally sues the company responsible. Forte plays the down-on-his-luck lawyer who takes his case. In contrast, Cena plays Acme’s polished legal opposition, turning the film into a courtroom comedy built around corporate negligence, Looney Tunes chaos, and one very overdue grievance.
That concept gives the movie a sharper hook than simple brand recycling. The joke, obviously, is that Wile E. Coyote has always been the victim of one malfunctioning gadget after another. Still, the legal angle also turns decades of slapstick into a corporate-satire premise. It’s a funny setup on its own, and one with enough built-in absurdity to justify stretching a classic cartoon conceit into a feature.
The real-world story around the movie has only added to its profile. Warner Bros. shelved the finished film in 2023 as part of its tax write-off strategy, prompting backlash from filmmakers, talent, and animation fans. That move turned “Coyote vs. Acme” into a kind of industry cause célèbre, with the movie’s eventual rescue becoming part of its identity before most audiences had seen a frame of it.
Now that the trailer is finally here, the tone looks to split the difference between old-school Looney Tunes physical comedy and a more contemporary, self-aware studio comedy. Whether that balance holds across a full feature is still the question, but the film’s second life already gives it a little more charge than the average IP play.
“Coyote vs. Acme” opens in theaters on August 28, 2026. Watch the trailer below.
