# The Final Days of ‘Coyote vs. Acme': Offers, Rejections and a Roadrunner Race **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [February 10, 2024, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-final-days-of-coyote-vs-acme-offers-rejections-and-a-roadrunner-race/997389 "2024-02-10T12:06:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-final-days-of-coyote-vs-acme-offers-rejections-and-a-roadrunner-race/997389/21 "2024-02-11T15:33:06Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > Q: Say the film was awful, like Batgirl was allegedly. Is there a good reason not to release it to streaming? I mean eg $1 million \> 0, and you can still deduct expenses. Did the studio think they would take a reputational hit? Some of the people behind the film (director, actors, writers, etc) may be entitled to more money even if the film loses money overall. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-final-days-of-coyote-vs-acme-offers-rejections-and-a-roadrunner-race/997389/22 "2024-02-11T15:59:10Z")
“Coyote v. Acme” would be a hoot. Scrap whatever has been done so far, and cast John Laroquette to represent Coyote, and Joe Pesci to represent Acme. A civil case, yes, but with Pesci, we’d have a “My Cousin Vinny” scenario. Hilarity would ensue. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-final-days-of-coyote-vs-acme-offers-rejections-and-a-roadrunner-race/997389/23 "2024-02-11T16:04:27Z")
In the actual movie (which tested well among audiences), Will Forte plays Coyote’s lawyer, while John Cena plays Acme’s lawyer. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-final-days-of-coyote-vs-acme-offers-rejections-and-a-roadrunner-race/997389/24 "2024-02-11T19:36:31Z")
That trailer (when the new stuff kicked in) was awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-final-days-of-coyote-vs-acme-offers-rejections-and-a-roadrunner-race/997389/25 "2024-02-11T20:22:16Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Some of the people behind the film (director, actors, writers, etc) may be entitled to more money even if the film loses money overall. I don’t doubt there are good reasons, but I’d like to see the math. Here’s a simplified view of the movie biz c. 30 years ago: Profits to studio = Gross Revenue\*(1-share of the gross that director and big stars get) - production expenses - marketing expenses. Marketing expenses could easily exceed production expenses. So it could make sense to either not release a film to theaters or arrange a limited release without promotion (eg [Rock and Rule](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_%26_Rule) as an extreme example). But there’s always direct-to-TV / direct-to-video / direct-to-streaming, which skips the expensive marketing campaign. That share that directors and big stars get? It’s always less than one. So to a first approximation keeping the film under wraps never makes sense. Speculation: 1. If the film is sexist or racist and can’t be fixed, maybe it makes sense to seal the evidence. I’m very dubious, but… maybe. 2. It’s a bargaining gambit. There are a small number of studios bargaining with a small number of streamers. The industry is settling down now. Warner Bros figures that driving a hard bargain on this sacrificial lamb of a film will help them with future bargaining with Amazon, Disney, Netflix et al. This strikes me as plausible. Maybe big studios think they are going to lose to big streamers. who can create their own films like Netflix does. I’m not sure whether this move will actually help though. 3. The CEO is an idiot. I can’t rule this out, but I’m inclined to consider something clever like #2. 4. You think that Studio Revenue \< absolutely minimal marketing campaign. I can’t see how that applies here. 5. CEO is foregoing profits over next 2 years to hit his quarterly earnings target. If so, the board of directors should be concerned. 6. A contract with the actors and directors was signed where they get a big bonus if the movie was released at all. For example maybe the director gets the first $10 million of movie revenue. That might explain Batgirl, but it doesn’t match the reported facts here, given Paramount’s offer. 7. This brouhaha _is_ the marketing campaign and the movie will be released after all. I mean this is Wile E Coyote: you could release the film any time (though the studio takes a hit by delaying release, either borrowing money or forgoing interest on cash). This is my best guess. I’d like to know more about #2 though. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-final-days-of-coyote-vs-acme-offers-rejections-and-a-roadrunner-race/997389/26 "2024-02-11T20:33:33Z")
I hope that you’re aware that Warner Bros (or more properly Warner Bros Discovery) has its own streaming service, called MAX. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-final-days-of-coyote-vs-acme-offers-rejections-and-a-roadrunner-race/997389/27 "2024-02-11T20:39:17Z")
Yeah and good point. I suspect the streaming industry will consolidate and I’m not convinced Warner will be one of the ones left standing. My general point was that bargaining practices between producers and platforms is still fluid, even if Warner was vertically integrated to some extent. Or so I hypothesize. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-final-days-of-coyote-vs-acme-offers-rejections-and-a-roadrunner-race/997389/28 "2024-02-11T21:59:21Z")
Remember last summer when Disney was pulling shows off? Here’s an [article from Variety back then.](https://variety.com/2023/digital/news/disney-plus-hulu-content-removed-willow-dollface-1235618280/) As near as I can figure, once a project is completed, it counts as “inventory” to the studio, the same as a hammer is inventory to a hardware store. So, in the crazy world of tax accounting, completely dumping an $80 million project may save more in taxes than finishing it and selling it to some other studio for e.g. $50 million and taking a loss on the other $30 million. ---
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-final-days-of-coyote-vs-acme-offers-rejections-and-a-roadrunner-race/997389/29 "2024-02-11T22:23:52Z")
**Hey, I was in that movie:** One morning I got a call that [EMRTC](http://emrtc.nmt.edu/services.php) wanted any available members of the model airplane club to come to the EMRTC conference room. Half a dozen members showed up and some guy gave us a pitch on a movie they wanted to make - it was actually doing the tricks from the Coyote Roadrunner movies. They wanted EMRTC to organize a skit where Coyote gets blown up in an airplane. They’d give the club $1000 for an airplane and pilot. We showed up at our field the next day and they put mics on us and filmed usual RC activity. But EMRTC said no way for explosives in an airplane. Not even an M80 and a glo plug. They would set up an explosive charge and a trigger on a pole out on their test range. The film guys would have to figure out how merge that with their script. And, we didn’t get to watch - 1 pilot and airplane and a crew fo 3 for filming. We voted Carl as the best pilot for the job. As Carl tells it, they drove to the back of Socorro Peak where they had set up the explosive charge and trigger in an arroyo. At the head of the arroyo there was a flatbed truck with vertical shields on the side. The range safety officer told Carl he could not be closer than the flatbed and would have to stand behind one of the shields. He pointed out that he couldn’t even see the target from there. So, he made a couple of passes down the arroyo then on the third he dropped down to what he believed to be the height of the trigger and KABOOM it went off. He walked the arroyo after and found the engine and some pieces. I never saw the movie. I understand it competes with Manos Hands of Fate for worst movie ever made. Probably won’t be missed. We gave the thousand dollars to the family of a member with terminal cancer. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-final-days-of-coyote-vs-acme-offers-rejections-and-a-roadrunner-race/997389/30 "2024-02-11T22:30:24Z")
Yeah, movie accounting is a crazy patchwork designed to screw over everyone but the studio and a few important people in the production. There have been movies that made hundreds of millions but declared losses so that none of the bonuses have to be paid out and a tax writeoff can be taken. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix made close to a billion dollars at the box office, but the studio declared a $167 million loss. Return of the Jedi has reportedly yet to turn a profit. A movie costs $100 million to make, and earns $500 million in revenue, yet it’s declared a money loser. How? Well, if it costs $200 million to market, and ‘distribution costs’ are $90 million, and thr theaters take 60% of the box office, there you go. This is basically what happened to ‘Gone in 60 Seconds’. The kicker was that the studio ‘lost’ money because of the high distribution costs - charged to the film by another division of the same studio. It’s good to be the studio. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2024, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-final-days-of-coyote-vs-acme-offers-rejections-and-a-roadrunner-race/997389/31 "2024-02-12T13:45:58Z")
> [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](#): > > Still, you have to try new things. One new thing they tried over a dozen years ago was a 3D Coyote/Roadrunner cartoon, **Coyote Falls**. I just learned about it last week: > **[Coyote Falls](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coyote_Falls)** > > Coyote Falls is a 2010 animated Looney Tunes short film featuring the characters Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. Directed by Matthew O'Callaghan and written by Tom Sheppard, it is the first Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner short to be made into CGI as well as the first theatrically released 3-D animated short since 1953's Lumber Jack-Rabbit. Coyote Falls was first shown in theaters before Warner Bros.' feature-length film Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore. In 2014, Warner Bros. Ani From ... Here it is in anaglyph 3D > [@](#): > > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyv7hhRTIh4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyv7hhRTIh4) ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2024, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-final-days-of-coyote-vs-acme-offers-rejections-and-a-roadrunner-race/997389/32 "2024-02-12T15:11:47Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > One new thing they tried over a dozen years ago was a 3D Coyote/Roadrunner cartoon, **Coyote Falls**. We showed that prior to our screening of _The Creature from the Black Lagoon_ for our outdoor 3D movie night a couple Halloweens ago. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2024, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-final-days-of-coyote-vs-acme-offers-rejections-and-a-roadrunner-race/997389/33 "2024-02-12T15:35:05Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > We showed that prior to our screening of _The Creature from the Black Lagoon_ for our outdoor 3D movie night a couple Halloweens ago. I showed 3D cartoons between the 3D movies I showed a month ago at Arisia 9including CftBL), but I wasn’t aware of this one. I now have it, along with a couple of other road runner 3D cartoons, dubbed onto DVD. There are a few other 3D warner brothers cartoons, but I haven’t been able to find them. (I showed _Shrek 3D, B.O.B.'s Brig Break_, and the 3D Woody Woodpecker cartoon _The Hypnotized Hick_) ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2024, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-final-days-of-coyote-vs-acme-offers-rejections-and-a-roadrunner-race/997389/34 "2024-02-12T15:36:54Z")
No comment on the movie production termination, but I’ll go on record as challenging the success of the film’s premise. We all loved watching the coyote get crushed repeatedly by his own cunning or bad luck, but it seems like Roadrunner cartoons with their slapstick are funny for about five or ten minutes, but would grow mighty old mighty quick where a two hour movie is concerned. Obviously, to make a two hour movie they’re going to have to delve into character development and other aspects of film entertainment that have nothing whatsoever to do with making the Wile E Coyote cartoons of yore entertaining. Finding that new formula to achieve success would be a daunting filmmaking challenge. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2024, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-final-days-of-coyote-vs-acme-offers-rejections-and-a-roadrunner-race/997389/35 "2024-02-12T15:44:57Z")
I don’t think anyone here has seen the movie but articles I’ve read said it tested well with audiences. That’s no guarantee but it seems that they _may_ have met the challenge. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2024, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-final-days-of-coyote-vs-acme-offers-rejections-and-a-roadrunner-race/997389/36 "2024-02-12T15:59:05Z")
Didn’t Kirk Douglas and Arnold Schwarzenegger already make the definitive live action Coyote and Roadrunner film. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2024, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-final-days-of-coyote-vs-acme-offers-rejections-and-a-roadrunner-race/997389/37 "2024-02-12T17:58:44Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > That is not a trailer. That is all clips of pre-existing Looney Tunes content. And it doesn’t end, it just stops. Or more accurately, it just sto I wouldn’t have believed 3 minutes of Coyote and Road Runner could make me start to dislike them, but it nearly did. There’s more to the cartoons than just endlessly bashing the Coyote! ---
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2024, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-final-days-of-coyote-vs-acme-offers-rejections-and-a-roadrunner-race/997389/38 "2024-02-12T20:25:57Z")
Did some Googling and found that the [model airplane club](https://blogs.sw.siemens.com/news/Re-engineering-Wile-E-Coyote-Contraptions/) was in a six episode series for Tru TV. It was called “[Man vs Cartoons](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1463632/episodes/?season=1&ref_=tt_eps_sn_1) or Animation meets Actuality” Similar but not Coyote vs Acme. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2024, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-final-days-of-coyote-vs-acme-offers-rejections-and-a-roadrunner-race/997389/39 "2024-02-29T17:54:46Z")
Will Forte weighs in. > The short version: he thinks the movie is fantastic and he’s baffled by the choice to bury it. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2024, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-final-days-of-coyote-vs-acme-offers-rejections-and-a-roadrunner-race/997389/40 "2024-02-29T21:51:14Z")
Didn’t _Family Guy_ already do a cutaway on these lines? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-final-days-of-coyote-vs-acme-offers-rejections-and-a-roadrunner-race/997389.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-final-days-of-coyote-vs-acme-offers-rejections-and-a-roadrunner-race/997389.md?page=3)