‘Coyote Vs. Acme’ Filmmakers Hit WB As “Anti-Art” For Scrapping John Cena’s Looney Tunes Film

Warner Bros. has another Batgirl situation, taking a ton of heat for scrapping a nearly-completed project just to save a few bucks. Deadline confirms WB and David Zaslav have canned the live-action/animated Coyote vs. Acme movie that was to star John Cena.

“With the re-launch of Warner Bros. Pictures Animation in June, the studio has shifted its global strategy to focus on theatrical releases,” a WB Motion Picture Group spokesperson said in a statement. “With this new direction, we have made the difficult decision not to move forward with Coyote vs Acme. We have tremendous respect for the filmmakers, casts, and crew and are grateful for their contributions to the film.”

Principal photography was reportedly completed a year ago. This decision will save WB an estimated $30M in tax write-offs on the $70M production.  That doesn’t sound like a lot of money, does it? But then again, if they were to move forward with it there would be additional costs for marketing.

Coyote vs. Acme is based on the popular Looney Tunes cartoons featuring Wile E. Coyote, with Acme as the fictional weapons company that makes the gadgets that usually blow up in his face.

It’s surprising this decision was made for a couple of reasons. For one, the film is produced by James Gunn, who is head of DC Studios and a key fixture in reviving their superhero brand. And Cena is a big part of that, too, as star of Peacemaker.

Is it possible WB execs saw the embarrassingly low box office of Cena’s action-comedy Freelance and got cold feet? It would be tough to blame them if they did.

Coyote vs. Acme director Dave Green has spoken up about the move, but is proud of the work they did. He is reportedly working on another  project for WB right now…

Composer Steven Price was very unhappy and called WB “anti-art” for their decision, releasing a behind-the-scenes video scoring a key piece of Roadrunner music.