{"id":41448,"date":"2026-08-12T19:13:41","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T14:13:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=41448"},"modified":"2026-08-12T19:13:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T14:13:41","slug":"inside-the-revival-of-coyote-vs-acme-movie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=41448","title":{"rendered":"Inside the Revival of Coyote vs. Acme Movie"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tOn a balmy July Saturday in Southern California, deep in the air-conditioned bowels of the San Diego Convention Center, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/dave-green\/\" id=\"auto-tag_dave-green_1\" data-tag=\"dave-green\">Dave Green<\/a> watched his own unreleased movie for the first time in three years. Despite the very long gap, doing so took some convincing. His film, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/coyote-vs-acme\/\" id=\"auto-tag_coyote-vs-acme_1\" data-tag=\"coyote-vs-acme\">Coyote vs. Acme<\/a><\/em>, had been in development at Warner Bros. for years, only for the studio to shelve it as a tax write-off in 2023 after production completed. Following fan outcry, Warners then decided to explore offers to sell it, only to \u2014 after rejecting various bids \u2014 seemingly take it off the market. A \u201cfuneral screening\u201d was held; the movie sat in indefinite limbo. Outrage on social media did not cease until, miraculously, a savior came through years later in the form of Ketchup Entertainment, an upstart distributor that paid $50 million for the rights last year. At last, it will release the film in theaters on Aug. 28.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThe first public screening was slated for Comic-Con\u2019s coveted Saturday evening slot, in tribute to the fans who never gave up. Green intended to skip it. \u201cI was crazy nervous. I was like, \u2018I\u2019m not going to sit through the movie. I can\u2019t watch it again. It\u2019s too intense,\u2019 \u201d he says. Producer Chris DeFaria, with whom Green has spoken every day for the past six years, told him he\u2019d regret missing out: \u201cHe\u2019s like, \u2018No.\u2019 He reminded me, \u2018This is the reason why we do what we do.\u2019 \u201d The screening went over like gangbusters. \u201cChris was right,\u201d Green says now. \u201cI sat through it. I was reminded of the movie we made.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tIt\u2019s the kind of happy ending that Hollywood has been projecting on the big screen for a century \u2014 and is far rarer behind the scenes. The arc of <em>Coyote vs. Acme <\/em>stands out as a defining bumble of David Zaslav\u2019s stewardship of Warner Bros. Discovery, culminating at a particularly rough time for the studio and its chief. His planned merger with Paramount is in a holding pattern, devolving into yet another PR nightmare, and he\u2019s seen the likes of <em>The Bride! <\/em>and <em>Supergirl <\/em>bomb hard at the box office. Meanwhile, <em>Coyote <\/em>will hit theaters at last as a true underdog, with attendance fueled by an unprecedented fan campaign. If it\u2019s a hit? Well, boom goes the Acme dynamite.<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-content-image \/\/  \">\n<figure class=\"o-figure   size-large alignnone lrv-u-max-width-100p\" style=\"width:1047px\">\n<div class=\"c-lazy-image  \">\n<div class=\"lrv-a-crop-16x9\" style=\"padding-bottom:calc((1396\/1047)*100%);\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15FEA-Coyote-David-Greene-Shoot-Embed-2026.jpg?w=1047\" alt=\"\" data-lazy-srcset=\"\" data-lazy-sizes=\"\" height=\"1396\" width=\"1047\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div><figcaption class=\"c-figcaption  lrv-u-padding-tb-025\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"a-font-secondary-s lrv-u-margin-r-025\">Green says his next film will be \u201ca complete departure from Coyote \u2026 based in horror and comedy in an R-rated sense.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<cite class=\"a-font-accent-uppercase-xs lrv-u-color-grey-dark\">Photographed by Mark Griffin Champion<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t***<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tIn conversation, Green is warm, remarkably even-keeled given his movie\u2019s roller-coaster ride and ever so careful \u2014 prepared to forge ahead and helm large-scale films, even as his latest was so recklessly yanked around, shoved to the brink of oblivion. He\u2019s speaking over Zoom from his attic, standing in front of a massive whiteboard of small note cards taped backward, their contents kept hidden. \u201cThose are for <em>Hex<\/em>,\u201d he says, referring to his next movie \u2014 in development with another major studio, 20th Century, and shrouded in secrecy. \u201cI don\u2019t want people zooming in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tA production assistant on Sam Raimi\u2019s <em>Spider-Man <\/em>sequels in his early 20s, Green burst onto the scene in the late 2000s directing music videos, like a cover of Talking Heads\u2019 \u201cThis Must Be the Place\u201d by recurring collaborator Miles Fisher, and comedy shorts, notably the David Cross vehicle <em>Meltdown<\/em>. By 2012, he\u2019d been tapped by Walt Disney Pictures to helm <em>Earth to Echo<\/em>, a modestly budgeted sci-fi original. Disney then ditched the movie, offloading it to the scrappy Relativity Media \u2014 sound like a familiar trajectory? \u2014 before it made more than three times its budget at the box\u00a0office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tGreen proved himself to be both in touch with audience demand and sufficiently thick-skinned to navigate the chaos of Hollywood. During this period, DeFaria was president of animation at Warner Bros. and had met with Green about an unrelated idea that did not move forward. \u201cWhen you agree to do a studio movie, you\u2019re setting up for a long-term relationship,\u201d DeFaria says. \u201cIt\u2019s minimum three years, sometimes more, that you\u2019re going to be living with this \u2014 and you\u2019d better find something you love about it.\u201d Green understood this intimately, the producer continues: \u201cFor a guy like Dave to work his way up the honest way wasn\u2019t that surprising.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tDeFaria had left Warner Bros., completed a brief stint at DreamWorks and returned to independent producing by the time Green came back into his orbit in 2019. A <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/looney-tunes\/\" id=\"auto-tag_looney-tunes_1\" data-tag=\"looney-tunes\">Looney Tunes<\/a> <\/em>riff called <em>Coyote vs. Acme <\/em>had been spearheaded for Warners by James Gunn \u2014 who was not yet associated with the studio as he is now \u2014 as the co-chairman and co-CEO of DC Studios. The development had gone dormant by the time DeFaria was brought in by his old colleagues to revive the project. Gunn remained attached as producer, but, per DeFaria, \u201cHe had moved on to other movies. \u2026 We didn\u2019t really have any interaction with the previous filmmaking\u00a0team.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tGunn\u2019s idea, inspired by Ian Frazier\u2019s 1990 <em>New Yorker <\/em>comedy piece \u201cCoyote v. Acme,\u201d imagined <em>Looney<\/em>\u2018s Wile E. Coyote initiating legal action against the megacorporation behind the defective products \u2014 giant rubber bands, faulty parachutes, rocket ship roller skates \u2014 that had doomed his endless pursuits of the Road Runner. The studio turned to Green, who was coming off the relatively unsuccessful <em>Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows <\/em>but had made his name directing hybrid movies (that is, using both animation and live-action), to put his own spin on the material.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tIn an email, Gunn says of Green, \u201cI think there are very few directors out there who could balance the fun, the insanity and the sweetness of the story.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t\u201cI remembered pitching, \u2018OK, can it be a true-crime documentary? How deep into the legal thriller genre can we go?\u2019 \u201d Green says. He pored over the Frazier piece, with one question leading his interpretation: \u201cIf Wile E. were to sue Acme, would he have a good case?\u201d Green made a presentation, now rather famous among his colleagues, that outlined his meta-layered vision, complete with shots of Michael Mann\u2019s <em>The Insider <\/em>and stuffed with references to other legal dramas like <em>The Verdict <\/em>and <em>Erin Brockovich<\/em>. His north star was <em>Who Framed Roger Rabbit<\/em>, Robert Zemeckis\u2019 1988 classic that remains the gold standard of the cartoon hybrid form \u2014 and was told through the unexpected cinephilic lens of film noir.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t\u201cHe was taking this joke to a point where there\u2019s a certain amount of filmic rigor with it,\u201d says screenwriter Samy Burch, who came aboard after Green was hired. Adds DeFaria, \u201cIt didn\u2019t blink. It was very clear on establishing a level of seriousness, a level of credibility, a level of commitment to the genre.\u201d Green got the job, which he attributes to having learned the art of politely persuading executives to wade outside their comfort zone. \u201cI wanted to test the boundaries of what was possible,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThis extended to hiring Burch, a former casting director who at the time only had her spec of <em>May December<\/em> \u2014 a dark, strange, hardly studio-friendly script \u2014 to show for herself. (Todd Haynes later directed a lauded movie out of it starring Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore, and Burch received an Oscar nomination.) She met with Green, who was looking for a new writer to partner with, and they hit it off. \u201cIn no reality, in any other world would I have ended up hired on this movie if not for Dave,\u201d Burch says. \u201cHe was coming at this with wanting to put key people in place that don\u2019t just have a long list of credits of kids movies or movies like this \u2014 he was trying to get a unique alchemy going, which is really brave.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThe film cannily tugs on the heartstrings, pulls off classic slapstick comedy and sneaks obscure film references into its visuals. Wandering into a live-action world, the traditionally animated Wile E. is represented by a hapless billboard attorney named Kevin (Will Forte) and his niece-cum-associate, Paige (Lana Condor); in the courtroom, they go up against the bullying, burly defense attorney Buddy Crane (John Cena). True to the original cartoons, Wile E. is nonverbal. His fight comes to represent a larger struggle against corporate greed \u2014 a rich theme that took on far greater resonance once the film had to go up against its own Goliath, in the form of Zaslav.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tEven during production, Green had to stick to his guns. \u201cSamy and I pushed for the weirdness and the specificity as much as possible,\u201d he says. \u201cThere are things that survived in the movie today that we had to fight to protect the whole time. We won so many of those battles.\u201d This includes \u201cthe existence of animated Peter Lorre,\u201d the late, great character actor (<em>The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca<\/em>) who was animated in <em>Looney Tunes <\/em>cartoons throughout the \u201940s and \u201950s.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t\u201cThere was definitely a desire to change out that character for a more recognizable character,\u201d Green says with a smirk. \u201cIt\u2019s a very deep cut.\u201d Lorre is in the final version. Indeed, he helps open the movie.<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-content-image \/\/  \">\n<figure class=\"o-figure   size-large alignnone lrv-u-max-width-100p\" style=\"width:1047px\">\n<div class=\"c-lazy-image  \">\n<div class=\"lrv-a-crop-16x9\" style=\"padding-bottom:calc((698\/1047)*100%);\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15FEA-Coyote-Comic-Con-Embed-2026.jpg?w=1047\" alt=\"\" data-lazy-srcset=\"\" data-lazy-sizes=\"\" height=\"698\" width=\"1047\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div><figcaption class=\"c-figcaption  lrv-u-padding-tb-025\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"a-font-secondary-s lrv-u-margin-r-025\">Coyote vs. Acme took a stand in July at Comic-Con, where the film screened for the first time in three years<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<cite class=\"a-font-accent-uppercase-xs lrv-u-color-grey-dark\">Justin Baker @photobakerla<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t***<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tFilming on <em>Coyote vs. Acme <\/em>took place in Albuquerque \u2014 a city associated with <em>Looney Tunes<\/em> ever since Bugs Bunny took \u201cthat left toyn at Albuquoyque\u201d \u2014 in the spring of 2022, during which time Warner Bros. merged with Discovery Inc. and Zaslav took over the company. \u201cIn the best possible way, I don\u2019t remember those corporate changes,\u201d Green says. \u201cWhen you\u2019re working on a project that spans multiple years, you just get used to shifting tectonics like that.\u201d That summer, Green moved to London for more than a year of postproduction, at which point Zaslav\u2019s strategy of writing off certain completed or nearly completed films, like <em>Batgirl <\/em>and <em>Scoob! Holiday Haunt<\/em>, was fully underway.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tStill, Green did not worry about his own film\u2019s fate. \u201cWe saw what happened to <em>Batgirl<\/em>, and we were shocked and our hearts were broken \u2014 and we assumed that we were safe because we had told ourselves that it\u2019d happened in a window of the merger completing,\u201d Green says. \u201cWe figured, \u2018Oh, once this merger is complete, they\u2019re not going to be able to do things like this again.\u2019 \u201c<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tBut they did, a few months after Green had returned home. The movie was officially shelved in November 2023 for a reported $30 million write-off. There were questions about whether it could make back its $70 million budget; the SAG-AFTRA strike ended literally that day, the industry\u2019s turbulent year hitting an anxious peak. Meanwhile, test screenings had confirmed what Green and others already knew: Creatively, <em>Coyote vs. Acme <\/em>was a success.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tDeFaria got the call first, then he called Green. \u201cAs he often does when faced with news that he doesn\u2019t want, Dave goes, \u2018What are you talking about? What are you talking about? That\u2019s insane\u2019 \u2014 those were his first lines, I believe,\u201d DeFaria recalls. \u201cBut he was immediately right in there with, \u2018What are we going to do now? How are we going to make sure that the world sees this movie?\u2019 \u201d Green later put out a statement that said he was \u201cbeyond devastated by WB\u2019s decision. But in the spirit of Wile E. Coyote, resilience and persistence win the day.\u201d It remains his pinned post on X.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t\u201cWe wanted to make sure that it was never viewed as a failure, that it wasn\u2019t being shelved because it was a bad movie,\u201d DeFaria says. \u201cThat was something I knew people who canceled the movie were going to start to put out there. We quickly began to take control of the narrative and make sure people understood that it was a very good movie.\u201d A-list filmmakers like Phil Lord and Christopher Miller raved about <em>Coyote vs. Acme <\/em>on social media, emphasizing that quality was not at issue here. Furious fans got louder and louder. <em>Looney Tunes <\/em>had been foundational to Warner Bros. for more than 80 years; it was as if Disney had killed off Mickey.<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-content-image \/\/  \">\n<figure class=\"o-figure   alignright size-thr-medium alignright lrv-u-max-width-100p\" style=\"width:389px\">\n<div class=\"c-lazy-image  \">\n<div class=\"lrv-a-crop-16x9\" style=\"padding-bottom:calc((435\/389)*100%);\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15FEA-Coyote-Rollerblades-Embed-2026.jpg?w=389\" alt=\"\" data-lazy-srcset=\"\" data-lazy-sizes=\"\" height=\"435\" width=\"389\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div><figcaption class=\"c-figcaption  lrv-u-padding-tb-025\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<cite class=\"a-font-accent-uppercase-xs lrv-u-color-grey-dark\">Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tKetchup then swooped in as a most unlikely hero. The independent company was initially known as the nontheatrical partner of Open Road Films, the specialty distributor behind best picture winner <em>Spotlight <\/em>that declared bankruptcy in 2018. More recently, Ketchup has put out an odd range of smaller titles on its own, from the prize-winning Jessica Chastain drama <em>Memory<\/em> (2023) to the one <em>Hellboy <\/em>movie you probably haven\u2019t heard of, <em>The Crooked Man <\/em>(2024), to <em>The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Toons Movie <\/em>(also purchased from Zaslav-era Warners). Buying <em>Coyote vs. Acme <\/em>was a massive gamble, a reminder there are still big swings to be taken in a town more terrified of them than ever.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tGreen is grateful for the risk they took. But when asked to reflect on his feelings, back when <em>Coyote<\/em>\u2018s existence was still in peril, he demurs: \u201cI was obviously very surprised. \u2026 I thought about our team of people, and I felt responsible for all of them.\u201d Pressed a bit on whether he felt upset or frustrated as the saga dragged on, he says, \u201cI was reading so much of what was happening live along with everyone else.\u201d We talk some more on the subject, and at no point in our extensive back-and-forth about the treatment of <em>Coyote vs. Acme <\/em>does Green express anything resembling anger or disillusionment. You can believe the sentiment or not, but his collaborators make clear it\u2019s consistent with his attitude during the worst of it. Indeed, this attitude may just have saved the movie.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t\u201cDave was a great guy throughout the ups and downs. He was never overly bitter and negative, although a little bit of bitterness and negativity was understandable in the given circumstances,\u201d Gunn says. \u201cHowever, I think you see, when people show true character in the face of adversity, the world rises up to meet them. And in this case, it did \u2014 <em>Coyote vs. Acme <\/em>being saved is because of Dave\u2019s character and because he made a great movie too powerful to be buried. And gosh, perseverance is kind of what Wile E. and the movie are all about.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t\u201cWe got to make this movie. We got to get away with this completely untraditional outside-the-box family movie,\u201d Green says when asked about his current feelings toward Warners. \u201cIt\u2019s a miracle that this movie exists in the first place. I have to zoom out and remember that they gave us the gift of the ability to make this movie.\u201d He takes a moment, then adds: \u201cI\u2019m not trying to rationalize. I\u2019m just saying making the movie, to me, is the win.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tWhen Green and DeFaria first sketched out how they\u2019d make <em>Coyote vs. Acme<\/em>, they asserted the core quality of Wile E.: He wakes up, takes out his knife and fork, sets his trap to make some Road Runner stew, and fails to catch him. Then he gets up and does it again. The filmmakers realized he might just be the most optimistic character in all of <em>Looney Tunes<\/em>. He might just be someone we could all learn from.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tEveryone who worked with Green on this movie still compares him to Coyote himself \u2014 methodical, committed, unfailingly optimistic. \u201cI can\u2019t tell you how many times he was like, \u2018Well, that didn\u2019t work \u2014 got to go rethink this!\u2019 \u201d Burch says. \u201cIt\u2019s crazy how many times some things were tried over and over.\u201d DeFaria adds with a laugh, \u201cDave will show up every day and continue to set the table every day for his Road Runners.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-content-image \/\/  \">\n<figure class=\"o-figure   size-large alignnone lrv-u-max-width-100p\" style=\"width:1047px\">\n<div class=\"c-lazy-image  \">\n<div class=\"lrv-a-crop-16x9\" style=\"padding-bottom:calc((590\/1047)*100%);\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15FEA-Coyote-Car-Still-Embed-2026.jpg?w=1047\" alt=\"\" data-lazy-srcset=\"\" data-lazy-sizes=\"\" height=\"590\" width=\"1047\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div><figcaption class=\"c-figcaption  lrv-u-padding-tb-025\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"a-font-secondary-s lrv-u-margin-r-025\">From left: Lana Condor, Wile E. Coyote (voiced by Eric Bauza) and Will Forte in <em>Coyote vs. Acme<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<cite class=\"a-font-accent-uppercase-xs lrv-u-color-grey-dark\">Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tAnd so we return to Green\u2019s attic, surrounded by those <em>Hex <\/em>note card secrets. He\u2019s back on the horse (or the careening rocket) with this latest film, gently pushing more boundaries and honoring older cinematic modes \u2014 in this case, \u201ca complete departure from <em>Coyote<\/em>, leaning into the kinds of movies I grew up loving, more of a genre movie that is based in horror and comedy in an R-rated sense,\u201d Green says. It may, again, strike some fear in bottom line-minded studio execs. It may get stuck in yet more corporate nonsense.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tGiven all that, is Green nervous about working within the system once more? Were there any lessons learned? \u201cI\u2019m like Wile E. Coyote, right?\u201d he says, smiling. \u201cI\u2019ll probably make the same mistakes the next time.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-content-image \/\/  \">\n<figure class=\"o-figure   size-large alignnone lrv-u-max-width-100p\" style=\"width:2000px\">\n<div class=\"c-lazy-image  \">\n<div class=\"lrv-a-crop-16x9\" style=\"padding-bottom:calc((1127\/2000)*100%);\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15fea_coyotetimeline1_w.jpg?w=2000\" alt=\"\" data-lazy-srcset=\"\" data-lazy-sizes=\"\" height=\"1127\" width=\"2000\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div><figcaption class=\"c-figcaption  lrv-u-padding-tb-025\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<cite class=\"a-font-accent-uppercase-xs lrv-u-color-grey-dark\">Gaudenti\/Sygma via Getty Images.\/\u00a9Warner Bros.\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"post-content-image \/\/  \">\n<figure class=\"o-figure   size-large alignnone lrv-u-max-width-100p\" style=\"width:2000px\">\n<div class=\"c-lazy-image  \">\n<div class=\"lrv-a-crop-16x9\" style=\"padding-bottom:calc((1127\/2000)*100%);\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15fea_coyotetimeline2_w.jpg?w=2000\" alt=\"\" data-lazy-srcset=\"\" data-lazy-sizes=\"\" height=\"1127\" width=\"2000\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div><figcaption class=\"c-figcaption  lrv-u-padding-tb-025\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<cite class=\"a-font-accent-uppercase-xs lrv-u-color-grey-dark\">\u00a9Warner Bros.\/Courtesy Everett Collection\/Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"post-content-image \/\/  \">\n<figure class=\"o-figure   size-large alignnone lrv-u-max-width-100p\" style=\"width:2000px\">\n<div class=\"c-lazy-image  \">\n<div class=\"lrv-a-crop-16x9\" style=\"padding-bottom:calc((1127\/2000)*100%);\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15fea_coyotetimeline3_w.jpg?w=2000\" alt=\"\" data-lazy-srcset=\"\" data-lazy-sizes=\"\" height=\"1127\" width=\"2000\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div><figcaption class=\"c-figcaption  lrv-u-padding-tb-025\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<cite class=\"a-font-accent-uppercase-xs lrv-u-color-grey-dark\">Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t<em>This story appeared in the Aug. 12 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. <a href=\"https:\/\/subscriptions.hollywoodreporter.com\/site\/thr-subscribe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Click here to subscribe<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On a balmy July Saturday in Southern California, deep in the air-conditioned bowels of the San Diego Convention Center, Dave Green watched his own unreleased movie for the first time in three years. Despite the very long gap, doing so took some convincing. His film, Coyote vs. Acme, had been in development at Warner Bros&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41449,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15FEA-Coyote-David-Greene-Shoot-Splash-2026.jpg?w=1440&h=810&crop=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}