Better late than never. COYOTE VS. ACME will have its wide theatrical release in less than a week, opening in theatres across the U.S. on August 28th. The film, which focuses on the famous Looney Tunes cartoon character Wile E. Coyote, who files a lawsuit against the Acme Corporation for their defective products. It stars Will Forte has Wile E.’s lawyer and John Cena as the lawyer representing Acme Corp. The screenplay is derived from a 1990 humor piece written in The New Yorker by columnist Ian Frazier and the new film has endured one of the most drawn-out development processes in Hollywood history.
A recent New York Times article details the long and winding road this film has travelled, including an infamous decision by Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav to shelve its release after the movie had been completed, so as to qualify as a tax write off the studio. Zaslav’s decision caused an uproar, especially after early test screenings of the movie were well received by audiences. Eventually, the small independent distributor Ketchup Entertainment acquired the rights to distribute COYOTE VS. ACME, bringing a successful conclusion to a truly remarkable journey for both the film and the columnist that created the idea for its story.
