After Batgirl cancellation, Warner Bros. is set to totally delete a completed movie – and the CEO made the call without watching it
Coyote vs. Acme, a Looney Tunes courtroom comedy starring John Cena and produced by James Gunn, is reportedly set to be completely deleted by Warner Bros., despite interest from other studios.
In November 2023, it was announced that the movie would be shelved, despite production being complete. Warner Bros. then allowed the filmmakers to shop the movie around, but it sounds like they never stood much of a chance, despite optimism from one of the film's voice actors.
According to a new report by The Wrap, Warner Bros. would be set to make between $35 and $40 million on the tax write-off from shelving the movie and therefore wanted competing studios to pay around $75-80 million for it. The studio wouldn’t allow interested studios, which included Netflix and Paramount, to counter Warner Bros.' offer, either, making the deal a 'take it or leave it' situation.
What's more, Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav reportedly hadn't even seen the movie before making the call, and three other studio bosses who were in on the decision-making hadn't seen a completed version of the film.
The movie, directed by Dave Green and written by May December screenwriter Samy Burch, was set to see Wile E. Coyote take Acme Corporation to court after every product he orders from them backfires on him in his vendetta against the Road Runner. A down-on-his-luck human attorney (Will Forte) takes on the case, who in turn discovers that his intimidating former boss (Cena) is now Acme's CEO – so he's even more determined to win the case.
Warner Bros. made headlines back in 2022 for scrapping their completed Batgirl movie, starring Leslie Grace and Brendan Fraser. Animated movie Scoob! Holiday Haunt was also shelved in the same year, despite almost being finished. Both of these films have yet to see the light of day.
For more, check out our picks of the biggest upcoming movies on the way in 2024.
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