On a balmy July Saturday in Southern California, deep in the air-conditioned bowels of the San Diego Convention Center, Dave Green watched his own unreleased movie for the first time in three years. Despite the very long gap, doing so took some convincing. His film, Coyote vs. Acme, had been in development at Warner Bros. for years, only for the studio to shelve it as a tax write-off in 2023 after production completed. Following fan outcry, Warners then decided to explore offers to sell it, only to — after rejecting various bids — seemingly take it off the market. A “funeral screening” was held; the movie sat in indefinite limbo. Outrage on social media did not cease until, miraculously, a savior came through years later in the form of Ketchup Entertainment, an upstart distributor that paid $50 million for the rights last year. At last, it will release the film in theaters on Aug. 28.
The first public screening was slated for Comic-Con’s coveted Saturday evening slot, in tribute to the fans who never gave up. Green intended to skip it. “I was crazy nervous. I was like, ‘I’m not going to sit through the movie. I can’t watch it again. It’s too intense,’ ” he says. Producer Chris DeFaria, with whom Green has spoken every day for the past six years, told him he’d regret missing out: “He’s like, ‘No.’ He reminded me, ‘This is the reason why we do what we do.’ ” The screening went over like gangbusters. “Chris was right,” Green says now. “I sat through it. I was reminded of the movie we made.”
