COYOTE vs. ACME (2026)

Just outside Albuquerque, New Mexico, Wile E. Coyote (”have brain, will travel”) continues his never-ending quest to catch the Road Runner, the remarkably fast, long-legged bird who communicates via beeps. As scholars of cartoons will know, he uses various contraptions from the Acme Corporation in his quest, such as rocket-powered roller skates and Rube Goldberg devices. These invariably fail, causing Coyote to one day enlist a lawyer, Mr Avery (Will Forte), a schlubby bottom-feeder experienced in getting a few hundred dollars a suit for Acme’s cartoon customers.

What he doesn’t know, however, is that Acme’s hotshot lawyer Buddy Crane (John Cena) is sitting on a conspiracy concerning the corporation’s testing laboratory. Soon, Coyote, Avery, and the latter’s ambitious young niece Paige (Lana Condor) find themselves in a legal drama to rival 12 Angry Men (1957) and To Kill a Mockingbird (1962).

Well, maybe not. Coyote vs. Acme is instead a funny mix of animation and live action that surpasses the original Space Jam (1996). (Yeah, I said it, wanna fight about it?) The story’s surprisingly involved for a film like this. It mixes the cartoon and “real world” elements brilliantly; rarely since Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) have they been integrated so seamlessly.

Forte, whose character is, of course, named after Looney Tunes animation legend Tex Avery, gives a strong performance. He intuitively knows to treat the cartoons like fellow actors rather than trying to be a cartoon himself. The Looney Tunes stars are well-utilised. Wile E. Coyote emerges as a genuine persona with a array of funny gags, whilst the use of “cartoon physics” is delivered with superb comedic timing. The film strikes a neat balance between a detailed plot and animated zaniness.

Coyote vs. Acme was at the centre of controversy in 2023 when it became one of several projects that Warner Bros. Discovery tried to shelve indefinitely for a tax write-off. The others were the superhero film Batgirl and an animated prequel to Scoob! (2020), titled Holiday Haunt. Coyote vs. Acme was the only completed film, although reports suggest both Batgirl and Holiday Haunt were in post-production and near completion.

Few corporate decisions are truly surprising, but this case illustrates that Disney doesn’t hold a monopoly on boorish contempt for audiences and creatives. Spending upwards of $70M on a film only to shelve it for tax purposes is a mind-boggling waste of time, effort, and resources.

I hate to play the parent card here, but it’s particularly egregious given the wider world context. Thankfully, public pushback prompted Warner Bros. Discovery to let the film be optioned to other distributors, and Ketchup Entertainment stepped up. At one point, Discovery allegedly considered deleting the film entirely—an appalling prospect. To quote the coyote, there’s a limited number of signs.

It isn’t that I’m arguing Coyote vs. Acme is a masterpiece; rather, tens of millions of dollars and immense creative effort were nearly destroyed for accounting purposes. This fate likely befell Batgirl and Holiday Haunt. Marie Antoinette didn’t actually tell the peasants to eat cake, but had she done so, it would be less of a justification to storm the Bastille than a studio torching vast sums of time and money.

Besides, the film is genuinely good. Directed by David Green (Earth to Echo, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows), it was written by Samy Burch (May December) from a story co-developed by James Gunn.

The hybrid integration is magnificent. Previous live-action/animation hybrids have been hit-or-miss. As appalling as Warner Bros.’ wastefulness is, their rationale stemmed from the dismal box office performance of Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021), which returned just $163.7M against a $150M production budget (before marketing costs).

The difference, of course, is that Space Jam: A New Legacy was utterly terrible—featuring Porky Pig rapping, Granny performing Matrix parodies, and bloated basketball scenes crammed with random corporate intellectual property (including the droogs from A Clockwork Orange).

Coyote vs. Acme is a triumph by comparison. Green crafts classical Looney Tunes gags with sharp timing that honours Tex Avery’s legacy—such as the classic painted-tunnel illusion. It surpasses the original Space Jam by better understanding the franchise’s core style. Nostalgia aside, the 1996 film hasn’t aged particularly well, relying heavily on crude jokes, awkward sexualisation, and weak celebrity cameos.

Coyote vs. Acme dispenses with those crutches. The acting is solid, John Cena makes a delightfully campy villain, and there’s a properly constructed plot. While the emotional beats don’t always land, the story never devolves into mawkishness. It’s a fun, witty, and clever trip to the cinema that does right by the Looney Tunes legacy.

USA | 2026 | 103 MINUTES | 2.39:1 | COLOUR | ENGLISH

Cast & Crew

director: Dave Green.
writers: James Gunn, Jeremy Slater & Samy Burch (based on 1980 New Yorker magazine article ‘Coyote v. Acme’ by Ian Frazier).
starring: Will Forte, Lana Condor, Tone Bell, Luis Guzmán, Martha Kelly, P.J Byrne, Eric Bauza (voices), Kenneth Choi & John Cena.