The shelving of Coyote vs. Acme was just the third of Warner Bros.‘s list of films to never see the light of day. All because Warner Bros. decided that a $30 million USD tax write-down was more important than actually releasing films, even complete ones. However, that all changed today. And it’s all thanks to the efforts of several very understandably angry filmmakers.

Coyote vs. Acme: Shelving Reversal Details

The Hollywood Reporter has just released a report revealing that Warner Bros. has done a 180 on their decision to shelve Coyote vs. Acme. And with a speed and agility characteristic of the Coyote’s arch-nemesis/prey: the Roadrunner, to boot. After all, this news does takes place just 4 days after the news about the film’s shelving broke.

But back to the reversal: Warner Bros. has decided that instead of permanently shelving Coyote vs. Acme forever, they will now allow director Dave Green (Earth to Echo, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows) to sell his hybrid live-action and animated legal comedy to prospective buyers. The word out on the street is that Amazon is very interested in this film, but it’s not certain yet. Still, this means that A) Warner Bros. will not get their tax writedown, and B) we will get to see this film at long last…eventually. For obvious reasons, we don’t have a timeline yet, so stay tuned later for more info.

But Why Change Course When There’s Cold Hard Cash to be Made?

So what made Warner Bros. reverse course on Coyote vs. Acme? Well, it certainly wasn’t a sudden attack of conscience, that’s for certain. According to The Hollywood Reporter, a group of filmmakers working on Warner Bros. projects started a “text chain” after the shelving of Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt back in August 2022. Their initial goals were just to “share their hopes and their anxieties, as well as encouragement and tips for navigating the studio”. Then they heard about the shelving of this third film, and all hell broke loose.

Those filmmakers essentially rebelled against Warner Bros. for the shelving of Coyote vs. Acme. Before, Warner Bros. had just barely sold them the idea that Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt was just a one-off event. Something never to be repeated. Then when news of this shelving broke out, it was apparent that this was now to be the norm. All of those filmmakers instructed their reps to cancel all meetings with Warner Bros.. Faced with the prospect of no filmmaker ever doing business with them again, Warner Bros. finally wised up and decided to allow Coyote vs. Acme to see the light of day.

Maybe this will teach them that allowing creativity is a lot more important than a cold-hearted tax writedown. We’ll just have to see in the future what happens with this. Tune back in to THS later to find out more about Coyote vs. Acme and other Warner Bros. news when we hear it.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter