The Looney Tunes film Warner Bros. wrote off for taxes could be an Oscar nominee
It has already outgrossed most of Warner Bros.' 2026 slate. Whether the Academy lets it into the animation race now depends on how many of its minutes are animated.
On 15 October, r/oscarrace opened a thread with a blunt title, "Coyote vs ACME chances", and it split down the middle: one camp thinks the Looney Tunes hybrid can sneak into Best Animated Feature, the other doubts it is even eligible. Commenters reckon the answer lands in just over a month, when the Academy publishes its list of eligible animated films.
Three years ago this film could not get released by its own studio. Warner Bros. Discovery finished the $70 million production, saw strong test scores, and in November 2023 shelved it for a reported $30 million tax write-off.
"With this new direction, we have made the difficult decision not to move forward with Coyote vs Acme."
— Warner Bros., November 2023
Ketchup Entertainment bought the worldwide rights in March 2025, reportedly for around $50 million, and released it on 28 August 2026. It opened to $15.5 million in North America, crossed $100 million worldwide by late September and topped Fandango's premium rental chart in its first week on digital. It has outgrossed five of the eight films Warner Bros. put in US cinemas this year.
The film Warner Bros. valued more as a tax loss than as a release has outgrossed most of the studio's 2026 slate.
The box office settled the first argument. The second comes down to a stopwatch.
The case for animation
The Academy's rule is specific: animation must figure in no less than 75% of the running time, and a significant number of the major characters must be animated. Coyote vs. Acme is a courtroom comedy in which Wile E. Coyote sues Acme, with Will Forte as his live-action lawyer and John Cena representing Acme.
Reports disagree on which side of the line it falls. Gold Derby, citing a source close to the film, wrote that it may fall short of the threshold. Later, TheWrap said the opposite: the film "has enough animated bits to qualify". Until the Academy rules, it is a question, not a fact.
The precedent is on the Coyote's side. The thread's top comment points out that Osmosis Jones and Looney Tunes: Back in Action were both submitted in the category's early years, and both made the eligible lists. Neither got nominated. Neither was laughed out of the room.
The alternatives are thinner:
- Adapted Screenplay: Samy Burch's script comes from Ian Frazier's 1990 New Yorker piece, and even its fans in the thread call that route "even less likely".
- The Golden Globes: one commenter thinks the film has a better shot there. To be fair, probably true, but a Globe is not an Oscar.
Animation is the only category where this film is a contender rather than a novelty, and Ketchup should campaign there without blinking.
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Who stands in the way
Kalshi's market has Pixar's Hoppers at 85% for a nomination, Laika's Wildwood at 79% and Toy Story 5 at 77%. Wildwood premiered at the BFI London Film Festival on 11 October to rave reviews, and one commenter is already sure it is "written in the envelope". With five slots, Coyote vs. Acme needs voters to pick a hybrid over at least one fully animated heavyweight. A bit of a stretch, but not a fantasy.
Warner Bros. now answers to Paramount Skydance, which closed its takeover on 6 October. If the nomination comes, the new owners get to watch a rival's campaign land it for a film their predecessors buried.
For a coyote, finally catching something would make a nice change.
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