Will Forte finally saw his ‘hunk of junk’ shelved ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ — gives surprising review

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Will Forte went all Looney Tunes after finally watching his shelved movie “Coyote vs. Acme” ― and said that “it’s incredible” in an open letter/rant he posted to his colleagues on the doomed flick.

“I know a lot of you haven’t gotten a chance to see our movie,” he said on X, addressing the “Coyote vs. Acme” cast and crew. “And, sadly, it’s looking like you never will.”

“When I first heard that our movie was getting ‘deleted,’ I hadn’t seen it yet,” the “Saturday Night Live” alum wrote. “So I was thinking what everyone else must have been thinking: this thing must be a hunk of junk.

“But then I saw it. And it’s incredible.”

June 2023: Will Forte at the Big Slick Celebrity Weekend event in Kansas City, Mo. Stephen Lovekin/Shutterstock
June 2023: Will Forte at the Big Slick Celebrity Weekend event in Kansas City, Mo. Stephen Lovekin/Shutterstock

The movie, starring Forte, is based on a satirical 1990 New Yorker article in which Wile E. Coyote is suing the Acme Corporation over its backfiring products that kept him from capturing the Road Runner in the Looney Tunes cartoons.

But, according to the Hollywood Reporter, it looks like “Coyote vs. Acme” ― which mixes live action with animation ― will never see the flicker of a movie screen.

Back in November, THR broke the news that its studio, Warner Bros., would shelve “Coyote vs. Acme” for a tax write-off.

But amidst fan outrage, Warner Bros. agreed to shop the movie around elsewhere. Sources told THR that Amazon offered between $40 million and $45 million to snap up “Coyote vs. Acme” but that Warner Bros. dismissed the generous offer.

Then, last week, Warner Bros. Discovery said in an earnings filing that it wrote off $115 million in content after abandoning movies in the third quarter of 2023.

The conglomerate said it did this as part of a “strategic realignment plan associated with Warner Bros. Pictures Animation Group.”

Warner Bros. shelved “Coyote vs. Acme” for a tax write-off as part of $115 million in content in the third quarter of 2023. ALLISON DINNER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Warner Bros. shelved “Coyote vs. Acme” for a tax write-off as part of $115 million in content in the third quarter of 2023. ALLISON DINNER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Forte was having none of it in his post on X, formerly Twitter.

“Super funny throughout, visually stunning, sweet, sincere, and emotionally resonant in a very earned way,” he wrote. “As the credits rolled, I just sat there thinking how lucky I was to be a part of something so special. That quickly turned to confusion and frustration.”

“This was the movie they’re not going to release?”

But he wasn’t done yet talking about “Coyote vs. Acme,” which co-stars John Cena and Lana Condor.

Will Forte is seen here on Jan. 19, 2024, in Salt Lake City, Utah. GC Images
Will Forte is seen here on Jan. 19, 2024, in Salt Lake City, Utah. GC Images

“Look, when it comes to Hollywood business stuff, I don’t know s–t about s–t,” Forte went on. “Even when a movie tests very well (like ours), there’s no guarantee that it’s gonna be a hit. And at the end of the day, the people who paid for this movie can obviously do whatever they want with it.”

“It doesn’t mean I have to like it (I f—ing hate it). Or agree with it,” he went on. “And it doesn’t mean that this movie is anything less than magnificent. You would be so proud of it ― a movie that should be seen, but won’t.”

Forte went on to praise the cast and crew for their “years of hard work, dedication and love” that they put into the project, then signed off by mocking the Warner Bros. catchphrase.

“That’s all folks.”