Days after news broke that Warner Bros is shelving the new hybrid movie Coyote vs. Acme to get a $30 million tax write-down, industry heavyweights praised the movie after attending a screening of the movie, which is now being shopped around to streamers like Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and Apple.
Deadline reports that the screening of the movie on Tuesday was a big success and drew big laughs from the audience which included iconic producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, The LEGO Movie), director Michael Chaves (The Nun II), director Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All at Once) and the film’s cast — Will Forte, Lana Dandor, P.J. Byrne, Eric Bauza — and the film’s director Dave Green.
“I saw Coyote vs. Acme and it’s delightful. Funny, charming, good physical comedy timing, with a surprising amount of heart. I hope several studios go after it so the world can see all the good work people did,” tweeted Chris Miller.
Phil Lord added, “ Coyote vs. Acme is wonderful. @dgreenmachine nails it. Hilarious smart existential and moving and moves this all time character more relevant than ever.”
Deadpool and The Martian producer Aditya Sood noted, “Coyote vs. Acme achieves the most difficult of all feats: a Looney Tunes movie that Messrs. Avery, Jones and Maltese would be very very proud of. It’s a delight and hopefully it finds its audience very soon. Congrats @dgreenmachine and co.!!!”
Emmy-winning actor Eric Bauza, who voices Wile E. Coyote, posted this on Instagram:
On Tuesday, Texas Rep. (D) also jumped on the public outcry bandwagon and Tweeted: “The @WBD tactic of scrapping fully made films for tax breaks is predatory and anti-competitive,” wrote Castro, who has protested WBD before on antitrust issues. As the Justice Department and @FTC revise their antitrust guidelines they should review this conduct. As someone remarked, it’s like burning down a building for the insurance money.”
Announced in 2020, the film was originally slated for July 21, 2023 but was removed from WB’s release calendar in April of 2022. The pic completed principal photography in New Mexico last year, and was being directed by Dave Green. DC Studios co-Chairman & co-CEO James Gunn was producing and had worked on the story, based on the humorous New Yorker article by Ian Frazier (1990).
Sources: Deadline.com, X (Twitter)
