The ‘Coyote Vs. Acme’ Trailer Is Finally Here, And It Was Worth The Wait

After years of uncertainty, false starts, and a very public near-erasure, the first trailer for Coyote vs. Acme has finally arrived.

For a film that has already been written about as much for what happened behind the scenes as what’s on screen, the footage feels like a victory lap and an uplifting punchline to an inside joke that we’re all a part of.

This is the movie that Warner Bros. Discovery shelved in 2023 for a tax write-off, despite being completed and widely praised (including here at Cartoon Brew) in early screenings, a decision that triggered industry backlash and an unusually vocal fan campaign. There are even a few meta jokes in the trailer referencing the film’s bumpy road to release.

What the trailer makes clear right away is that this isn’t some compromised salvage job. Director Dave Green’s hybrid of live-action and animation leans fully into the Looney Tunes sensibility, with Wile E. Coyote’s long-simmering grievance against the Acme Corporation reframed as a legal comedy. Will Forte plays the down-on-his-luck attorney taking Coyote’s case, with John Cena as Acme’s corporate counsel.

It also helps that the film’s animation looks fantastic and is true to the franchise’s long-established aesthetic rather than opting for some slick CG update. That might sound like a low bar, but given the project’s path, it’s worth noting. After Warner Bros. reversed course and allowed the filmmakers to shop the movie, it spent over a year in limbo before Ketchup Entertainment acquired worldwide rights in 2025.

Since then, the narrative around Coyote vs. Acme has steadily shifted from cautionary tale to comeback story. The trailer leans into that without spelling it out to obviously, presenting the film as it was originally intended, as a broad, character-driven comedy built on one of animation’s most durable running jokes.

After everything this project has been through, we couldn’t be happier to see it heading to theaters. The film is currently set for a theatrical release on August 28, 2026.