Warner wrote off Coyote vs. Acme for taxes. Its Oscar nomination will be Hollywood's most embarrassing write-off

Gold Derby confirmed on October 27 that Coyote vs. Acme is eligible for Best Animated Feature at the 2027 Oscars and will submit. Eligibility for the live-action/animation hybrid starring Will Forte and John Cena wasn't a given — the category has rules about how much of a film must be animated — but there's precedent: Marcel the Shell With Shoes On earned a nomination in 2023 with plenty of live-action footage.

For most movies, an awards submission is a press release. For this one, it's the latest escalation in a three-year argument with its own studio:

• November 2023: Warner Bros. shelves the completed film as a tax write-off, planning to never release it anywhere.
• The backlash: filmmakers and fans revolt publicly; the studio allows the film to be shopped instead of erased.
• 2025: Ketchup Entertainment buys it.
• August 2026: the theatrical release Warner said shouldn't exist grosses more than $100 million worldwide.

The Bauza vote

The eligibility news landed in a mourning week. Eric Bauza — the modern voice of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, more than 400 credits, three Children's and Family Emmys — died at his home at 46 of hypertensive cardiovascular disease; the news broke October 26. He wasn't a bystander to this film's survival: at the 2024 Annie Awards, he argued for its release from the stage while voicing Daffy Duck, and the AP's obituary credits him with helping fuel the fan outcry that kept it alive.

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"Context people might be missing here is Eric Bauza the voice of many many Looney Tunes and other animated characters just tragically passed at 46 from a heart attack earlier this week. I don't see it winning but I could see a nomination out of respect."

— a commenter on r/movies

On the winning part there's little argument. Laika's Wildwood has the reviews, the craft narrative, and a box-office sob story of its own, and the field also includes Toy Story 5, Hoppers, and Brad Bird's Ray Gunn.

"Wildwood is a lock to win already."

— a commenter on r/movies

A nomination is a different proposition, and the Academy's incentives all point one way. One vote lets animation-branch members honor the man who spent his last years fighting for the film, reward a $100 million vindication of theatrical animation, and register what they think of studios deleting finished work for tax math — three statements for the price of a single checkbox.

Warner Bros. shelved the finished film in 2023. This week its TV chairman called Bauza "a unique voice talent who brought joy and laughter to millions."

Nominations are announced January 21, 2027, with the ceremony on March 14. If the checkbox gets ticked, the last big Looney Tunes movie with Bauza's voice plays on the Oscar broadcast as a nominee — with Warner Bros. in the room as the studio that wrote it off, watching the write-off get read into the record.

Previously we wrote: Clayface ending explained: is Matt Hagen dead or alive — and what the final scene means for the DCU