Culture news He hasn’t seen the film, but he wants to bury it. The boss of Warner is ready to throw 70 million dollars in the trash!
There are projects that are a long, quiet river, from the decision to launch to completion. And then, there are others who, despite all their good will, fall into the eye of the storm, to the point of being practically stillborn. Before revealing himself?
The modern-day Roger Rabbit?
Directed by Dave Green, Coyote vs. Acme was to be released in 2023 and would highlight the technique from traditional animation to real-time shooting. The idea behind this project, reminiscent of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? or even Space Jam, was to tell a crazy story around one of Acme fans’ favorite characters: Coyote! The latter hires an unlucky lawyer, played by Will Forte, to sue Acme because of the defective equipment he is constantly forced to stuff to catch Beep Beep! Behind this amusing pitch lies a project that has been in the works for a long time and has been in the works since 2018. Filming took place in 2022 for a little over a month in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but then there was a lot of post work. -production to add all the animation sequences. Well, unless there is an improbable turnaround, we will never see the color of it…
A project in the eye of the storm?
It’s completely crazy, but the information is nevertheless real: David Zaslav, head of the Warner studio, would have simply canceled the film without even having seen it! Despite excellent reviews from private screenings, Coyote vs. Acme has been in the eye of the storm for a while and the person concerned has decided to sit on an envelope of more than 70 million dollars! The reason ? Dave Green’s feature film would have a hard time convincing video streaming platforms, whether Netflix, Amazon Prime Video or Paramount, and Zaslav would consider the proposals unworthy.
To strike hard, he therefore decided to cancel the film by refusing any counter-proposal from the targeted platforms. Even though the producer has not seen the feature film, he therefore decided to make this ludicrous decision by justifying this choice by a production cost which would only be “reimbursed” by half (and then again). In reality, abandoning the film would allow Warner to recoup a tax deduction of $30 million, which would be the solution favored by the studio. Surrealist. So, unless a studio deigns to up the ante, we risk waiting a long time for this Coyote vs. Acme. Which is a shame given the first criticisms and the participation of John Cena.