MATTHEW BURNETTE

Staff Writer

My most recent movie going experience was to go and see the newly released Coyote vs. Acme, and it was one of the most worthwhile visits to one of my favorite places.

If you’re not familiar with the film, it’s based off of a New Yorker story of the same name and follows Looney Tune Wile E. Coyote as he embarks on a mission to Albuquerque to hire a lawyer that will help him sue the Acme Corporation for the years of faulty products he’s had to endure.

I won’t dive deeply into the film because it’s one that I would urge anyone who will listen to go see while it still in theaters.

The film is great. Lots of great bits and jokes as one would expect from anything involving the Looney Tunes, but in a departure from the usual shtick, there’s actually a good bit of heart in the story.

I left finding myself incredibly impressed by how, in a world of recycled plots and characters, the filmmakers managed to find a new story to tell and shed a new light on characters that are nearly a century old.

But again, I won’t go into a lot of details.

It’s a film that, as I said, I would tell anyone to go see in theaters. It’s not one of your big budget Marvel films that will completely knock you out of your seat with its sound quality and incredible graphics.

Seeing it in theaters doesn’t necessarily enhance the movie, and I don’t think you’ll miss anything by waiting until it comes to streaming to watch. Don’t get me wrong, I am always an advocate for going to theater any time you can, and it’s one of my favorite things to do, but it’s not necessary for the film.

It’s just a good Looney Tunes movie.

Instead, I think as many people that can should go and buy a ticket to this movie as a way to hopefully teach a lesson to the executives that are in charge of making movies.

If you’re not familiar with the saga of Coyote vs. Acme, it was actually filmed around 2022 to 2023 by Warner Bros. Discovery. They announced the movie and its cast and a brief explanation of its plot.

They got everyone hyped up and excited for its release.

And then it didn’t.

Instead, the announcement was made that, rather than releasing the film, they would be using it as a tax write off for the studio and wouldn’t be allowing anyone to purchase the distribution rights.

It was an absolutely devastating and infuriating blow to everyone who looked forward to the movie with eager anticipation, including me.

One of my earliest experiences with the Looney Tunes was watching the film Space Jam as a kid. Like Coyote vs. Acme, the film blends animation and live action which as a kid was mesmerizing.

I’m not evens sure I knew who Michael Jordan (the star of Space Jam) was at the time. In fact, I was so unfamiliar that I thought he was the one that sang “I Believe I Can Fly,” a song featured prominently in the film (At this point, that might’ve actually been a better choice.)

Regardless, I loved watching him play basketball alongside the Looney Tunes, a group of characters that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed since.

So, when I heard that the studio had so carelessly dangled a carrot in front of us all only to pull it away at the last minute, I was pretty angry.

And then, a hero named Ketchup Entertainment came along after Warner Bros. Discovery reversed their decision to not sell the rights due to the outrage it caused and purchased them.

They then announced that August 28, 2026 would be the day we all finally got to see the film.

Now that it’s out, I implore everyone that’s able, again, to go see it in a theater. The movie has already made what it would have been worth as a tax write off and has passed the point of profitability.

Let’s show the movie executives the importance of good quality and original work over padding their already overly padded pockets, and that we’re willing to go out and see their movies, they just have to be willing to let us.

That’s all folks!