Wile E. Coyote hits the big screen in 'Coyote vs. Acme'

Like millions of American children, Elyse Graham spent countless hours in front of a television watching Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote, the Road Runner and other stars of the Looney Tunes universe. Back then, Graham liked the Road Runner. "Everything goes his way, he’s always slipping out of trouble," Graham said. "That’s a very appealing character for kids."

Today, Graham, a 41-year-old professor of English literature at Stony Brook University, sees the cartoons a little differently. "The character that adults identify with more is the Coyote," she said, pointing to his feverish pursuit of a single, hopeless goal. "He can't stop trying to defeat that bird, even though the bird is clearly beloved of the gods."

More than 75 years after making his screen debut, in the 1949 theatrical short "Fast and Furry-ous," Wile E. Coyote is trying a different strategy: taking on the Acme Corporation, whose rocket-powered roller skates, super-magnets and pump-action detonators have brought him nothing but concussions, contusions and third-degree burns. "Coyote vs. Acme," an animated/live-action hybrid in theaters Aug. 28, casts Will Forte as a small-time personal injury lawyer who takes the Coyote’s case. It also features John Cena as Acme’s high-priced attorney and Eric Bauza as the voice of several classic Looney Tunes characters. "Coyote vs. Acme" is shaping up as a slightly under-the-radar release for late summer, but it’s already sparking fond memories for Long Islanders who grew up watching the Coyote repeatedly crash and burn and try again.

"In an era where there are new cartoons being posted every day online, you still have these tentpole characters that are resonating with people," Tom Cassese, a Hicksville-based animator and founder of the production company Sayzee Studios, said of the Looney Tunes pantheon. "It’s like seeing old familiar friends. You love their antics."

Though known for lowbrow slapstick — and a rather violent brand of it — the Coyote has a literary pedigree. Animator Chuck Jones, who created the character with his colleague Michael Maltese, has said he took inspiration from "Roughing It," Mark Twain’s 1872 travelogue, which described the coyote as a "slim, sick and sorry-looking skeleton" who also stands as "a living, breathing allegory of Want." In Jones’ autobiography, "Chuck Amuck," he further explained the Coyote’s monomaniacal personality by paraphrasing the philosopher George Santayana: "Fanaticism consists in redoubling your efforts when you have forgotten your aim."

The Coyote-Road Runner cartoons also have surprisingly elevated taste in music, according to Adam Glaser, director of orchestras at Hofstra University. He notes that one of their oft-used themes is "Dance of the Comedians," a jaunty yet graceful piece from "The Bartered Bride," an 1866 opera by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana. (The classic-era Looney Tunes were scored by Carl Stalling and Milt Franklyn.)

"The way they adapt this music is really ingenious," Glaser said. "They chose music that had lots of simplicity, lots of fast notes, but they were also choosing music that was harmonically evocative as well."

So perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise that "Coyote vs. Acme" started out as an essay in a fairly highbrow publication, The New Yorker. In February 1990, the magazine ran "Coyote V. Acme," the fictional opening statement in an equally fictional trial. Written by Ian Frazier, the humor piece mainly described the lunacy of the cartoons in mirthless legalese. For example: "The Rocket Sled accelerated with such sudden and precipitate force as to stretch Mr. Coyote’s forelimbs to a length of fifty feet." (Decades later, Frazier’s tone seems to have influenced the Coyote’s Wikipedia page, which flatly describes him as "a brilliant artist, capable of quickly painting lifelike renderings of such things as tunnels and roadside scenes.")

Warner Bros., which produced the original Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts beginning in the 1930s, publicly added "Coyote vs. Acme" to its slate in 2020, according to Deadline. The film was initially set for release July 21, 2023, but that date would instead go to the studio’s megahit "Barbie." Near the end of 2023, Warner decided to cancel the release of "Coyote vs. Acme" as a tax write-down, according to reports, much as it had done with "Batgirl" in 2022. Despite a reported $70 million production budget and a story co-written by James Gunn — who by then had become a head honcho at DC Studios — the fully completed feature seemed destined for the shelf.

"White-hot anger" is how Forte described his reaction to the news in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. Various Hollywood creatives, including director Phil Lord ("The Lego Movie") voiced support for the film on social media, while fans took to YouTube and Reddit to express their dismay that "Coyote vs. Acme" might never be seen.

"Chuck Jones is spinning in his grave," one Reddit user lamented.

In 2025, however, Warner sold the film for a reported $50 million to Ketchup Entertainment, an indie distributor that had recently picked up another Warner title, "The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie." Neither Ketchup Entertainment nor the filmmakers agreed to speak for this story. A representative for Warner pointed to the studio’s earlier statement, from 2023, which said: "We have tremendous respect for the filmmakers, casts and crew and are grateful for their contributions to the film."

"I’m glad they’re releasing it, that’s the main takeaway," Cassese said. He noted that Looney Tunes managed to capture a whole new generation — the millennials — with the 1996 release "Space Jam," featuring an animated Bugs Bunny and a live-action Michael Jordan. “ ‘Space Jam’ was really a cultural touchstone for that generation," Cassese, 33, said. "Maybe this’ll be the same kind of thing for Gen Z."

Would it be pretentious to say that the Coyote and the Road Runner have a timeless appeal because they embody the inherent absurdity of man? "The things we want are so small," Graham said, drawing a parallel with the cartoons. "We want food, we want dignity. We want these little things, and they're so often denied."

By Rafer Guzmán

rafer.guzman@newsday.com