Warner Bros. was the target of massive shaming on social media after it announced that it would not release its completed movie COYOTE VS. ACME in order to take a tax write-off of $30M.
In 2022, the studio took a similar step when it mothballed other completed movies BATGIRL and SCOOBY-DOO HOLIDAY HUNT in order to take write-offs for their production costs. It should be noted that both of those films had met with poor responses from early screenings and were likely to struggle at the box office.
On the other hand, COYOTE VS. ACME had screened well and many were optimistic that a theatrical release would produce well, earning as much as $200M worldwide. After the announcement, social media lit up with criticism from high-profile actors, directors, columnists, and movie fans.
The abrupt removal of the movie from the 2024 release calendar, was equally disappointing for exhibitors, who are hungry for new content to play in their theatres to recover from the impact of Hollywood’s 2023 labor strikes.
The pressure on Warner Bros. became so intense that they turned to major streaming platforms to gauge interest in acquiring distribution rights to COYOTE VS. ACME.
It appears that Amazon may have the most interest, which would be intriguing because of their recent support of releasing major titles theatrically before they appear on Amazon Prime Video. Perhaps the Coyote can crawl out from under his most recent “anvil crush” to appear in theatres.