How much did Coyote vs Acme cost to make? Ketchup paid less to rescue it than Warner spent making it
The most Looney Tunes thing about Coyote vs Acme isn't in the movie. It's the invoice.
Warner Bros. spent $70 million making a live-action/animated comedy about Wile E. Coyote suing the Acme Corporation. Then the studio decided the smartest use of a finished $70 million movie was to bury it for a $30 million tax write-off. You know, business.
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The receipts, itemized
Because nothing says "prestige entertainment conglomerate" like this ledger:
- $70 million — what Warner Bros. spent to make the movie
- $30 million — the write-off Warner planned to take for not releasing it
- $70 million — what David Zaslav reportedly wanted back from any buyer, because sure
- $50 million — what indie distributor Ketchup Entertainment actually paid after weeks of haggling
So yes: the rescue cost $20 million less than the production. Wile E. would appreciate the physics of falling short.
Read more: One of the best & most overlooked fantasy movies might finally get a sequel: “A big believer in it”
And then the anvil landed on Warner
Here's the fun part. The movie Warner deemed unreleasable opened to roughly $15 million — the biggest debut in Ketchup's history by a factor of four, with critics comparing it to Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
"Coyote vs. Acme is a perfect blend of nostalgia and modern storytelling," Ketchup CEO Gareth West said when the deal closed.
Director Dave Green was less corporate about it on release day. His whole statement is a love letter, but the load-bearing phrase is two words:
"WE WON."
The condiment company won. The legacy studio took the write-off. Meep meep.
Earlier we wrote: 5 cult romcoms from the 2000s we can rewatch a hundred times and never get bored
