‘Coyote vs. Acme' Debuts First Footage as Will Forte Reflects on Salvaged Film: 'I Had Given Up Hope'
'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.'
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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.
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.'
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The reason for this is that Miral has also announced that two new attractions will be added to Warner Bros. World's DC comics superheroes lands. Themeparx noted that there may already be evidence of where the entrance to one of these new rides will be located as a washroom area between Metropolis and Gotham City has been closed off with temporary banners saying 'Lexcorp' – the company run by Superman's arch-enemy Lex Luthor In response to MEED's initial report about the Potter construction bid submissions, Miral said that it "does not comment on speculative and inaccurate information from unknown sources." It is unclear what aspect of the article Miral was referring to though there is no doubt that it was not entirely accurate. That's because the article also stated that "the Abu Dhabi project will be the world's sixth Harry Potter -themed park. The others are in Florida and California in the US, Beijing in China, Osaka in Japan and Leavesden in the UK," the latter of which is not a theme park. What is for certain is that the Abu Dhabi Potter area, whatever form it takes, has had a long lead time. As far back as January 2023 Al Zaabi told this author that "my team, they are going in and out the US to go through many stages of design and many drafts and versions...I'm sure the quality of the master plan, the quality of the design, will be either at the same level or I'm pushing my team to be even better than what you have seen in Warner Bros." He added that the Potter area "will be a gamechanger for us." The high caliber of Warner Bros. World convinced the studio to entrust perhaps its most beloved Intellectual Property (IP) to Miral making it the only theme park operator outside Universal with Potter rides. In 2023 Al Zaabi revealed to this author that the "discussion started in 2018, literally one hour before the grand opening on 24th July. Kevin [Tsujihara] was here, at that time, he was chairman of Waner Bros. Mohamed Al Mubarak, His Excellency, our chairman, and Pam Lifford [president of consumer products] from Warner Bros, she was there. And myself and my team, Peter [van Roden, Warner Bros. senior vice president of global themed entertainment], was there as well. And we discussed, okay, what's next? "And we said, okay, let's do market research, see what's the right IP for this region. We did a very thorough study, and Harry Potter came out on top of the list of that study. We did a study in India, we did a study in China, in Europe, and this region, the GCC. And the result was Harry Potter . It took us some time to discuss, agree on commercial. But I think what helped us to close that deal is Warner Bros. they saw the quality of what we can deliver and the quality of the service and operation." Harry Potter: The Exhibition is visiting Abu Dhabi after a successful run in cities including Madrid (Photo by) Getty Images Although it is unknown when Potter's new area will open, Abu Dhabi is already rolling out the red carpet for him. Earlier this week Harry Potter: The Exhibition opened on the city's museum district Saadiyat Island. It is the exhibition's first-ever stop in the Middle East and gives guests a close up look at props from the films as well as an opportunity to take part in iconic activities from them such as mixing potions or scoring at Quidditch. It runs until September 21 and earlier that month the Harry Potter Film Concert Series will come to Yas Island's Etihad Arena. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets will be shown on a soaring 40-foot screen whilst the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra plays John Williams' sweeping score. It could prove to be a blessing in disguise that Miral has spent so long giving a magic touch to its Potter plans. Since they came to light in 2022, Warner has announced that it will reboot the series with new actors on its HBO streaming platform in 2027. It could cast a dark spell on Universal's Potter attractions as they all heavily feature the stars and sets from the original films. However, Abu Dhabi might want to integrate the new actors in its attractions from the start if the new show is a success. There has of course been another significant development since Yas Island's Potter attraction was announced. As this report forecast, a Disney park will be coming to Abu Dhabi over the coming years so the Potter site will have to be substantial enough to compete with that. We will soon find out what tricks are up its sleeve.
