A film that Warner Bros. Discovery wrote off as a tax loss two years ago played to its first public audience on Saturday night at San Diego Comic-Con. Coyote vs. Acme, an animated/live-action hybrid about Wile E. Coyote suing the Acme Corporation for selling him defective products, screened at 7:30 pm on July 25 at AMC Mission Valley, with director Dave Green and star Lana Condor on hand to mark the moment. Variety reported the interview with Green and Condor on July 26.

The path to that screening was anything but straight. Warner Bros. Discovery shelved the completed film as a tax write-off — a move that lets a studio claim the production cost as a loss against its tax bill — and Green learned of the decision in November 2023. A campaign to save the film followed, and one moment from it became a lasting image: a lone protester dressed as Wile E. Coyote stood outside Warner Bros. Studios in the rain, holding a sign reading "Release Me." That person never came forward, despite a public call from the filmmakers asking them to identify themselves. Variety reported both details.

Ketchup Entertainment, a smaller distributor, eventually acquired the film and set it for a theatrical release on August 28, 2026. Will Forte, who stars alongside Condor and John Cena, announced the release date during a Comic-Con panel. Facebook/Cinemark The film is rated PG, and a trailer debuted at the convention. LRM Online

The script comes from Samy Burch, working from a story by James Gunn and Jeremy Slater. Its source material is a 1990 New Yorker article by Ian Frazier, a dry legal brief written in the voice of Wile E. Coyote's attorney. Green directed; Condor, Forte, and Cena lead the cast. The Comic-Con screening was promoted in the convention's official Saturday newsletter with the line "Be the very first audience to see Coyote vs. Acme." Comic-Con.org

For a film that nearly vanished into a corporate ledger, a crowded Comic-Con theatre is a striking reversal. The studio that shelved it, Warner Bros., is meanwhile navigating its own uncertainty — an impending merger with Paramount Skydance that has been delayed. Variety reported the connection between the studio's deal-making and the film's Comic-Con moment.

Green and Condor posed for a portrait session during Comic-Con International on July 25, 2026, as captured by the Associated Press. Rutland Herald/AP Tickets for the August 28 theatrical release are now on sale.