{"id":4871,"date":"2024-03-18T15:07:03","date_gmt":"2024-03-18T19:07:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/?p=4871"},"modified":"2024-03-18T15:07:03","modified_gmt":"2024-03-18T19:07:03","slug":"thats-all-folks-how-warner-bros-are-killing-their-most-iconic-characters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/2024\/03\/18\/thats-all-folks-how-warner-bros-are-killing-their-most-iconic-characters\/","title":{"rendered":"That\u2019s All Folks: How Warner Bros Are Killing Their Most Iconic Characters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In just the last couple of years, we\u2019ve seen an extremely concerning trend that Warner Brothers Studios is beginning to reveal. This trend is shelving and refusing to release fully finished films for tax write-offs. This has happened several times, and the beloved Looney Tunes are just the latest victims.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warner Brothers Studios created a film called Coyote vs. Acme<\/em>, a Looney Tunes legal comedy that mixed live action and cartoon characters similar to Space Jam<\/em> back in 2022. Despite being a fully finished film that thousands of artists worked on, Warner Bros are holding the film hostage after using it as a $30 million tax write-off. The studio is refusing to release the film in theaters or streaming and went as far as announcing they were deleting the film, in an extremely anti-art statement, spearheaded by CEO David Zaslav.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before getting into the tragic shelving of Coyote Vs. Acme<\/em>, I wanted to touch on the other two fully finished films that David Zaslav decided weren\u2019t worth a release. These two films are Batgirl <\/em>and Scoob Holiday Haunt!<\/em>, which feature some of Warner Bros most iconic characters. Even if these films didn\u2019t get good test audience scores, any fully finished film at least deserves a direct-to-streaming release on Warner Bros streaming partner Max. Instead, the company took tax write-offs and didn\u2019t pay a single mind to the thousands of filmmakers who worked on these projects. Since the films were never released, people who dedicated years of work can\u2019t even put it on their resume, which is incredibly heartbreaking and discouraging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coyote vs. Acme <\/em>has existed in a strange space since Warner Bros announced that they didn\u2019t plan to release it. Following backlash from filmmakers all over the world, Warner Bros agreed to shop around and try to find the film a new home. Studios such as Netflix, Paramount, and Amazon were all interested in making offers for Coyote vs. Acme<\/em><\/a>, but Warner Bros ultimately refused their offers because they weren\u2019t high enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warner Bros refusing offers for a film that\u2019s already completed, and they plan on never releasing is wildly confusing to me. Since Warner Bros are proving that they care about money more than art, why not take the extra money these big studios are willing to pay you? In a year where Warner Bros made a billion dollars off Barbie, I don\u2019t see why they wouldn\u2019t take the offers, as it costs them nothing because they planned on shelving the film anyways. It\u2019s beginning to seem personal toward the filmmakers of Coyote vs. Acme who include Will Forte, John Cena, and co-CEO of DC Studios James Gunn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actor Will Forte posted a heartbreaking statement on X<\/a> praising the film, and revealing that it will most likely never see the light of day. Forte shares that \u201cWhen I first heard that our movie was getting \u2018deleted,\u2019 I hadn\u2019t seen it yet. So I was thinking what everyone else must have been thinking: This thing must be a hunk of junk. But then I saw it. And it\u2019s incredible. Super funny throughout, visually stunning, sweet, sincere, and emotionally resonant in a very earned way,\u201d he continued. \u201cAs the credits rolled, I just sat there thinking how lucky I was to be a part of something so special. That quickly turned to confusion and frustration. This was the movie they\u2019re not going to release?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forte\u2019s statement ends with \u201cYou would be so proud of it \u2014 a movie that should be seen, but won\u2019t,\u201d he finished. \u201cPlease know that all the years and years of hard work, dedication and love that you put into this movie shows in every frame.\u201d And I\u2019m sure we would love it if we only got the chance to experience it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The voice actor of Bugs Bunny Eric Bauza is at the frontlines of the movement #ReleaseCoyoteVsAcme on X. He shares that \u201cThe fight to release \u201cCoyote Vs ACME\u201d goes far beyond saving a great movie. We are trying to preserve the integrity & importance of these icon legacy characters, while protecting the creative process of storytelling all together.\u201d<\/a> Which I believe beautifully sums up the issue at hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big studios refusing to stand up for the work that they produced is incredibly disheartening for past, present, and future filmmakers. In this current landscape of profit and studio wars, it\u2019s getting harder and harder for art to be released. No one wants to work on a film that has the unfortunate chance of being shelved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warner Bros needs to do better. The hashtag, #ReleaseCoyoteVsAcme continues to trend on social media, and we can only hope that this will pressure Warner Bros into releasing the film, but it\u2019s looking pretty bleak. For a studio that proudly displays the motto \u201cCelebrating Every Story\u201d, it\u2019s incredibly ironic that they are scrapping fully finished films.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In just the last couple of years, we\u2019ve seen an extremely concerning trend that Warner Brothers Studios is beginning to reveal. This trend is shelving and refusing to release fully finished films for tax write-offs. This has happened several times, and the beloved Looney Tunes are just the latest victims. Warner Brothers Studios created a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":377,"featured_media":4872,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4871","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-opinions","8":"entry"},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2024\/03\/looney-tunes-e1710788566873.png","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2024\/03\/looney-tunes-e1710788566873.png","author_info":{"display_name":"Mickey Corey","author_link":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/author\/mckinley-corey\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/377"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}