Television presenter and bestselling author Richard Osman has rounded on Warner Bros over what he calls “one of the most disgusting things that’s happened in culture”, urging audiences to flock to see the long-shelved animated comedy Coyote vs. Acme.
The film, based on a celebrated New Yorker column, opened in cinemas over the weekend after a tortuous four-year journey through Hollywood’s corporate machinery. Warner Bros scrapped the completed project in 2023, opting instead to claim a $70m (£51.7m) tax write-off rather than release it — a decision that has since become a rallying point in debates over how studios treat finished work.
The road to release
For Wile E. Coyote, the perpetually unlucky cartoon predator, the road to vindication has played out in remarkably meta fashion. The film, which sees the character hire a lawyer to sue the Acme corporation over decades of faulty merchandise, was finished, well-received by test audiences and boasted a star-studded voice cast including Will Forte, John Cena and Lana Condor. Warner Bros shelved it anyway.
Independent studio Ketchup Entertainment eventually swooped in, acquiring the rights for $50m (£36.9m) in March 2025 and giving the project a genuine theatrical release. The film debuted to an estimated $15.5m (£11.4m) at the weekend box office, secured a 95 per cent Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and earned an “A” CinemaScore from opening-night audiences.
Director Dave Green marked the occasion with an emphatic social media post: “Coyote vs. Acme is finally, gloriously, in theatres now. Which means one thing. WE WON.”
Osman’s pointed critique
Speaking on his podcast The Rest is Entertainment, co-hosted with Marina Hyde, Osman did not hold back. He described the film’s journey as something “worthwhile” for film lovers to support, given the indie studio’s relative lack of resources compared with a Hollywood giant.
“They made it, everyone was happy with it and then [Warner Bros] wrote it off as a tax loss,” he said. “They just did not put it out. It’s now been bought by an indie and it’s being distributed.”
“They obviously don’t have the money of Warner so it’s a worthwhile thing to support. I went to see it and it’s really funny.”
His tone sharpened when reflecting on the studio’s reasoning.
“People have made this film. It’s a really great film and they just said, ‘Oh no, just for our tax bill, we’re just not going to show it.’ You think, ‘Oh come on.'”
The Independent has approached Warner Bros for comment.
A pattern of shelved films
The saga sits within a broader pattern of controversial Warner Bros decisions. The studio previously buried 2022’s Batgirl, a superhero film that had been shot and partially edited, as part of a strategic rethink under its then-new ownership. *Scoob! Holiday Haunt*, an animated spin-off in the Scooby-Doo franchise, met the same fate and remains unseen.
The decisions have fuelled frustration among creatives and audiences alike, with critics arguing that such moves devalue the labour of cast and crew while treating cinema primarily as a balance-sheet exercise.
Why it Matters
The saga of Coyote vs. Acme has become a touchstone case in a growing debate about how major studios treat finished work — and whether the bottom line is being prioritised over culture itself. For Osman, the episode crystallises something larger: a creative industry increasingly willing to discard art for tax convenience, then watch smaller, braver players pick up the pieces. Whether the film’s modest box office success translates into a longer theatrical life remains to be seen, but its very existence on cinema screens feels, for now, like a small act of defiance.
