‘Coyote vs. Acme’ Debuts First Footage as Will Forte Reflects on Salvaged Film: “I Had Given Up Hope”
After a very bumpy road, Coyote vs. Acme‘s team took to San Diego Comic-Con to celebrate the movie finally heading to the big screen and announce its forthcoming release date.
“I’m pretty speechless,” Will Forte told the crowd about the movie landing a release from Ketchup Entertainment after being dropped by Warner Bros. “It blows my mind. You think back to the journey this movie has taken. I had kind of given up hope at a certain point, so this is amazing.”
The first footage from Coyote vs. Acme featured a montage of Wile E. Coyote’s failed attempts to thwart the Road Runner, which was set to Johnny Cash’s version of the Nine Inch Nails hit “Hurt.” Later, Wile E. Coyote happens to see a TV commercial from attorney Kevin Avery, as played by Forte.
“Have you ever pulled the rip cord of your parachute and only silverware comes out?” the character says in the footage. “It’s not your fault.” The footage led to plenty of laughs and cheers from the supportive crowd.
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The film’s team announced that Coyote vs. Acme is set to hit theaters on Aug. 28, 2026. Notably, no one on the panel, including castmembers Eric Bauza and Martha Kelly, director Dave Green and moderator Paul Scheer, mentioned Warner Bros.’ name in discussing the project’s challenging path.
Forte praised Wile as “a character that never gives up” but added, “The real hero of this movie is all of you guys sitting in those seats. Like Wile E. Coyote, you guys were an underdog who fought against a major corporation, and because you never gave up, this movie is now going to come out in wide global release.”
Later, the team screened six more minutes of footage, which included co-star John Cena defending Acme in a courtroom scene. “What I will prove to this jury is that this man, Wile E. Coyote, he is reckless,” Cena says in the sequence. A disaster involving the defense team’s evidence leads to a fiery explosion in the court.
Afterward, Forte’s character gets a phone call from a mysterious source who sounds distinctly like Bugs Bunny. “I think I may be able to help with with Acme,” the unnamed friend says. “I have an associate with information.”
The panel ended with the team debuting the movie’s action-packed teaser trailer.
In late 2023, The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that Warner Bros. planned to scrap the completed movie as part of a $115 million write-down. Social media uproar helped to save the project, which Ketchup Entertainment acquired for distribution in March.
The film centers on attorney Kevin Avery (Forte) representing Wile E. Coyote in a lawsuit against the Acme Corporation over his failed attempts to catch the Road Runner.
Green directed the film from a script by Samy Burch, with Burch, James Gunn and Jeremy Slater credited for the story. The film features Looney Tunes characters and is based on Ian Frazier’s 1990 New Yorker article “Coyote v. Acme.”
“I never thought it would happen, so it just came out of nowhere, and I’m so thrilled,” Forte told THR earlier this year about the movie landing distribution. “I’m so excited for people to see this movie. I’m gonna promote the crap out of it. Just tell me what you want me to do and I’ll go, I’ll do whatever — go to the top of Mount Everest, I’m there.”
