Coyote Vs Acme

They would have lost way more money if they released it and it flopped. Remember that release and distribution and promotion has additional costs. That is why a movie usually has to make about two and a half times the production budget to be considered profitable.

Edited by M84 on Mar 21st 2024 at 7:35:54 PM

So cancel everything and delay the inevitable bankruptcy instead of giving it a chance to succeed.

If they canceled Flash instead due to all the negative publicity surrounding it, or Kill the Justice League for the same, that would have made sense. As is, it just seems like they have absolutely no idea what audiences want.

The difference is that DC stuff has a better track record overall compared to Looney Tunes movies. WB has never really figured out how to make a Looney Tunes movie for the big screen work.

Space Jam was their only real success on this front, and they haven't been able to catch that lightning in a bottle again.

It feels like wondering if they can make a LT movie work and profitable should have been done before making the movie.

But I guess that's just a symptom of the leadership change.

They probably thought John Cena's star power would help.

But otoh, John Cena's most recent movies have all been kind of shit. Maybe that also led them to reconsider.

If they got cold feet they should've canceled it before they finished it.

But after some thinking, I'm not worried anymore. It'll come out in theaters after the liquidation sale. Betting the rights will be dirt cheap then, and whoever picks them up will be seen as a hero.

I have to wonder at what step did they think the movie wasn't going to be profitable enough and which group made the final call? Because, you can't just make a multi-million dollar movie. They had to hire actors, directors, set design teams, lawyers, accountants, etc.

They must have assumed the movie was going to be profitable at some point and it makes me wonder when someone decided "ok now that it's in post-production I think that the only way we will recover even a fraction of the cost is a tax write off."

Maybe, WB's biggest problem is just having bad management that can not handle or consider the market research nor proper budgeting.

Edited by Freshwater on Mar 21st 2024 at 9:02:36 AM

Gun to my head, I'd guess... Blue Beetle's release?

It's a medium-budget release from a franchise with a string of bombs sent to theaters with positive word-of-mouth and no advertising, which is probably about the best case scenario for CVA. If BB had somehow pulled a box office success from its thorax, then I'm sure they would've been a lot more willing to let CVA sink or swim on its merits.

> I have to wonder at what step did they think the movie wasn't going to be profitable enough and which group made the final call? Because, you can't just make a multi-million dollar movie. They had to hire actors, directors, set design teams, lawyers, accountants, etc.

well warner bros thinks you can,it's like the Warner bros who approved the production of the movie in the first place is not the same one who now wants to kill this movie as a tax write off.

I think one thing that's important to note (responding really late) though is that Back in Action did badly in theatres, but it had a pretty long and consistent run on TV and on home video. It made money in the end. Almost every cult classic you can name has ended up being really profitable in the big picture, because it turns out that having a fun and interesting product that new people continuously discover over time is really good for your long-term profit. But now, everything is getting killed too quickly for anything to build that up, and the stuff that does have the potential isn't available for avenues where people could find them otherwise. Doom Patrol is destined to be a cult classic...but it can't air on TV in syndication because of the content and WB isn't gonna do anything with it beyond keep it in print for a few years.

One of the things that's fucking up most of the studios is that they continuously cut off more and more of the back end profits and made the costs higher and higher and then are getting confused about what's happening to the once reliable second and third market revenue.

Like, Stargate SG-1 was an expensive show to make and even Showtime kinda balked at it, despite being a premium cable network. So they signed a unique deal where it would go into syndication six months after the season ended, which was apparently extremely lucrative. And Syfy continued that when they got the franchise. What's left of MGM is apparently still making tons and tons of money in syndication money because it's always airing somewhere, still.

WB used to understand this too, they'd give a lot of shows a truncated last season to hit the 100 episode syndication mark and then, even if, say, Person of Interest never quite got the numbers they wanted, it became available for an extended revenue stream from global syndication.

But insisting on making as much stuff in house as possible and putting as much of it on streaming as possible absolutely murders long-term revenue streams for things. Meanwhile, Sony's TV department is apparently doing just fine because they don't have a streaming service and their entire business model is making stuff for other people and having the rights revert back to them in the long term.

Edited by Zendervai on Mar 21st 2024 at 12:50:09 PM

They do still make Looney Tunes stuff for tv and streaming at least. But the need to show good quarterly reports has really made studios prioritize short term profits over anything else.

It also doesn’t help that people are generally watching less tv, and it is debatable how profitable streaming actually is.

Apparently and probably, it is possible for Warner Bros. to undo a write-off. If they even want to reverse one, all they have to do is to pay the IRS the amount of money back and they'll be able to release whatever they initially wrote off again. This tweet from Steven Ray Byrd mentions that, and these other tweets seem to support it.

Edited by aldrinejoseph25 on Mar 22nd 2024 at 1:12:22 AM

If the next honcho wants to rebuild goodwill with both audiences and the film community, releasing this movie is probably the first thing they'll do.

Provided it doesn't leak or get an official release beforehand.

Would like to point out that we are getting Velma Season 2 over this movie.

God damn, this timeline we are in just fucking sucks!

Max is making up for it with the second seasons of Bugs Bunny Builders and Tiny Toons Looniversity though.

I thought THAT only got a second season because it was given a two-season order?

I'm way on the finges of my understanding of Velma, but I believe they got a one-season order that is being distributed as two separate seasons.

A lot of streaming services have done this as of late with their animated products.

Its like ordering a cake from somewhere, then cutting it in half and saying its two cakes. Technically thats right but feels like they didnt just wanna commission another cake

Edited by M1gamiTensei on Mar 24th 2024 at 2:16:53 AM

Felt like making a random anti-Zaslav statement.

"Fire him, let him quit/step down by himself, I don't care! Just as long as he is no longer at Warner Bros.!"

But again, he's not the only problem. Ideally we'd see the entire board replaced. Hopefully with people who actually respect WBD's ip.

x3

Alternatively, it does help even out the slow production cycle for animated shows. If one season order takes two years to complete, but they divide that in half and release one each year, they can keep the show airing yearly.

Or, because they'll usually know if they're greenlit for another order by the end of Season 1 (first half of their episode order), they can plot in an ending if they're canned.

I think sometimes people don't appreciate just how much time it takes to create traditional animated shows, especially when they don't rely on stilted and reused footage.

Here's a fanmade poster I made for the film last year and posted on my DeviantArt.

Edited by aldrinejoseph25 on Mar 26th 2024 at 7:23:30 AM

Do you take notes? Wile E. should have top billing and the Road Runner should get the And Starring credit.

Otherwise, I like it!

Edited by BigBadShadow25 on Mar 26th 2024 at 10:26:27 AM

Given how significantly different the leaked plot of the film is compared to Ian Frazier's article, in what scale do you think Coyote vs. Acme falls in? In Name Only, or Adaptation Expansion?

Edited by aldrinejoseph25 on Mar 31st 2024 at 5:01:51 AM