Fresh off the Season 2 renewal for his HBO Max antihero series Peacemaker, Warner Bros. announced that actor, WWE Superstar and meme icon John Cena will be starring in the live-action/animation hybrid feature Coyote vs. Acme. Produced by Warner Animation Group, the Looney Tunes movie is due in theaters July 21, 2023.
From director Dave Green (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows), Coyote vs. Acme will feature the age-old rivalry between the Roadrunner nemesis and his preferred mail order supplier: After one too many ACME products foils his plans, Wile E. Coyote hires a lawyer to sue the company. The case pits the canid and his counsel against the lawyer’s intimidating boss (played by Cena), but their growing, unlikely friendship across species and cartoon lines spurs them on.
The screenplay is from James Gunn, Jeremy Slater, Jon Silberman and Josh Silberman and Samy Burch, based on the Wile E. Coyote character and fictitious Acme corporation from Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies, and the New Yorker magazine article “Coyote v. Acme” by Ian Frazier.
Chris DeFaria and James Gunn will produce, the latter under his Two Monkeys, A Goat and Another, Dead, Monkey production banner. Gunn is also the creator of Peacemaker, a spinoff of The Suicide Squad movie and based on DC Comics characters. Cena plays the violent vigilante Peacemaker, a.k.a. Chris Smith.
John Cena has racked up dozens of credits in and out of the ring in the last 20 years, including a number of voiceover roles for animated characters, most recently as Yoshi the polar bear in Dolittle (2020). He also portrayed Baron Draxum in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, title roles in Dallas & Robo and Blue Sky’s Ferdinand, J.C. in Surf’s Up: WaveMania and (mostly) himself in The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age Smackdown and Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery from Warner Bros. Animation.
‘The Prototype’ recently appeared in F9, and is set to flex in several upcoming action-comedies and thrillers, including this year’s Snafu and Argylle.
[Source: Deadline]
