Will Forte Says Warner Bros. Shelving ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ for A Tax Write-Off Is “F***ing Bulls*it"

We all know about Warner Bros. shelving the already-completed “Coyote vs Acme” for a $30M tax write-off. There hasn’t been much of an update about its status. For all we know, it might have already been destroyed by the studio.

Will Forte, who stars in the film, is breaking his silence on “Coyote vs. Acme,” a Looney Tunes comedy that sparked fury for being shelved much in the same way as Warners’ “Batgirl” and “Scoob! Holiday Haunt.” Suffice to say it, Forte ain’t happy. He’s decided to vent his frustration in an interview with MovieWeb:

Thank you for asking me about it because I like talking about the movie because I don’t want people to forget what [Warner Bros.] did to this […] My thoughts were that it’s fcking bulls*it. It is such a delightful movie. It deserves so much better than it got. I can’t tell you possibly why the decision was made to not release it. But it makes my blood boil.

Forte goes on to add that he’s “really proud” of the film and he hopes we “somehow” get a chance to see it down the road.

Back in 2023, the $70M film had multiple interested buyers, but Warner Bros CEO David Zaslav decided to write it off as a $30M tax break. This infuriated the film community, with many worried that this could become a normal course of action for other studios in the future.

It wasn't just that “Coyote vs Acme” was cancelled; it was also the disrespect from Warners to all the artists involved. According to Rolling Stone, Zaslav and company never gave the creators a heads-up before telling the press and the public that the movie had been cancelled.

“Coyote vs Acme” had test screened and ended up being a huge success with the audience. 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 almost never happens.

Unlike “Batgirl,” Warner Bros cannot use the excuse that they canceled “Coyote vs Acme” for quality reasons. This was purely and simply a greed-driven decision on their part.

So, what happens next? My prediction is that a copy of the movie will eventually be leaked online. Someone should have a print somewhere that the studio doesn't know about. Usually, an assortment of people would have a copy of the film through post production — editor, director, assistants, etc ..