Coyote vs. Acme: Sisyphus gets his big break

By Aedan McGann, Contributing Writer

If you have been online at all lately, you’ve likely seen a trailer for Warner Brother’s newest film, “Coyote Vs. Acme”. If you have ever seen a cartoon, you’re hopefully familiar with the character of Wile. E Coyote and the Road Runner. In short, the Road Runner is an impossibly fast flightless bird, and the Coyote is set on eating him for dinner. Every adventure involves the Coyote setting an elaborate trap for the Road Runner, likely sourced from the Acme Corporation, which manufactures everything from roadrunner feed to rocket shoes. The trap is almost certain to explode in his face, and falling from a cliff is almost guaranteed. The Coyote has tried and failed to catch the Road Runner since 1949.

The premise of “Coyote Vs. Acme” is that Wile E. Coyote has had enough, and is suing the Acme Corporation for the multiple injuries he has sustained due to their faulty products. It features Will Forte as his lawyer and John Cena as Acme’s attorney, and hijinks ensue. Interestingly enough, the process of releasing this movie was a struggle comparable to what the titular hero faces every time he wakes up.

In 1990, a satire writer wrote a short story titled “Coyote Vs. Acme” for The New Yorker, featuring the Coyote seeking compensation for the injuries he received due to his purchases malfunctioning. Movie rights to the idea were acquired in the early 2000s by Scott Rudin Productions, but Warner Brothers (the owners of the Looney Tunes IP and all associated characters) refused to grant them the rights to the characters, and the rights waned. In 2015, James Gunn, the director of “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Superman”, pitched the movie idea to Warner Brothers, where it was passed from writer to writer until Samy Burch was brought on to write the script. 

Filming and production were done in 2022 and “Coyote Vs. Acme” was set to release in the summer of 2023, but Warner Brothers, instead, opted to release “Barbie” (we all remember Barbenheimer fondly, don’t we?) and “Coyote Vs. Acme” was cast into the fiery pit of production limbo. It was shelved permanently in 2023 for 30 million dollars as a tax write–off, to the devastation of anyone who worked on it and the outrage of fans. Entertainment conglomerates such as Amazon, Paramount and Netflix bid for the rights, but all were rejected by Warner Brothers.

Finally, in 2025, Ketchup Entertainment purchased the worldwide rights to the movie for 50 million dollars and announced they planned to release it in theaters. Since dropping in theaters on Aug. 28, it has enjoyed a domestic box office of 49.3 million dollars and a worldwide gross of 69.4 million dollars.