It’s not looking great for “Coyote vs. Acme”. The film has had private screenings at the Warner Bros lot for a few months now, but offers for the scrapped, and completed, movie just haven’t been to Warners’ liking.
“Coyote vs Acme” is now expected to be shelved and deleted forever. Warner Bros wanted $75M-$80M for the film and rejected offers from Netflix, Amazon & Paramount, refusing to let them counter-offer.
Netflix expressed interest, but “at less than half the $70 million production cost”. This led to the streamer backing out of the bidding. Sony and Apple are also not interested anymore. Meanwhile, Paramount and Amazon made some offers, but they “weren’t high enough”.
According to The Wrap, some of their sources believe that Warners never intended to actually sell “Coyote vs Acme.” The studio even refused to share specific details with the filmmakers about the proposed deals and the ones they rejected.
The report goes on to add that Warners CEO David Zaslav never actually watched “Coyote vs Acme,” even though he’s the person who will ultimately be making the decision to scrap it into thin air. His underlings, Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, did however catch a directors cut of the film.
So, now, more than likely, the film will end up being scrapped by Warners, which was their original intent before heated backlash occurred last November.
Meanwhile, Deadline’s Anthony D'Alessandro saw the film on the Burbank lot and had nothing but praise for it —
There’s a lot of action scenes in the movie and hysterical jokes that can easily be used in trailers. I’ve seen the movie. Look out for the Porky Pig pant-less joke) The sense of humor rivals the sophistication of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Comedian Paul Scheer, who attended one of the lot screenings, had nothing but praise for the film, calling it “the best version of the Looney Tunes on the big screen”:
What was so exciting was that 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,” says Paul Scheer, who attended a screening of “Coyote vs Acme.”
There were reports that Warners would be getting a $30 million tax write-off for shelving “Coyote vs Acme”’ The film is said to have had very good test scores. It tested many months ago and ended up playing very well with audiences. It scored 14 points above the average for a family movie and its final score, reportedly, was in the high 90s.
If you’re not fluent in test screening lingo, a movie scoring in the high 90s means 95% of the audience who saw the film rated it “Very Good” or “Excellent.” It rarely happens.
Unlike “Batgirl,” Warner Bros cannot use the same excuse that they're cancelling “Coyote Vs Acme” for quality reasons. They're not shelving a film destined to fail. There is no way around lying about the quality. This is purely and simply a money-driven decision on the part of Warner Bros.