A shocking new trend is arising in Hollywood: nearly finished movies are getting scrapped.
At the lead of this trend is Warner Bros. Discovery, an entertainment studio known for the “Harry Potter” franchise and movies such as “The Matrix” (1999) and “Interstellar” (2014).
In November 2023, “Coyote vs. Acme” was abruptly shelved by the entertainment company. The Looney Tunes comedy, starring Will Forte and John Cena, was finished in 2022. The movie’s original release date was July 21, 2023, and was replaced by “Barbie” (2023).
“Coyote vs. Acme,” a cross between live action and animation, cost Warner Bros. $70 million in production costs. The studio was able to take $30 million in a tax write-off by shelving the movie.
The screen-ready film’s cancellation shocked actors and directors throughout Hollywood, but no one took it quite as harshly as those directly associated with the film.
“(I) had a lot of fun scoring Coyote (vs.) Acme,” the film’s composer, Steven Price, said in a post on X alongside a snippet of behind-the-scenes footage. “As no one will be able to hear it now, due to bizarre anti-art studio financial shenanigans I will never understand, here is a bit of behind-the-scenes footage …”
Forte, who played Wile E. Coyote’s lawyer in the film, also spoke out against the movie’s cancellation earlier this month in an interview with MovieWeb.
“It is such a delightful movie,” Forte said. “It deserves so much better than what it got. I don’t know, I can’t tell you possibly why the decision was made to not release it, but it makes my blood boil.”
Warner Bros. also canceled “Batgirl,” starring Leslie Grace, in August of the same year. The $90 million budget film was set to premiere on HBO Max and was shelved due to poor test screenings.
This trend has continued into 2025, albeit under different circumstances.
A six-part Prince documentary, directed by Ezra Edelman, was recently canceled by Netflix after being delayed in 2024. However, instead of a tax write-off, this cancellation was a result of an agreement between the streaming service and Prince’s estate.
According to Variety, “representatives for the late artist’s estate claimed a first cut of the film was filled with ‘dramatic’ factual inaccuracies and ‘sensationalized’ renderings of certain events from his life.”
Now, Prince’s estate plans to create a documentary of their own, including exclusive content.
Announced earlier this month, “Golden,” a film about singer Pharrell Williams’ childhood, was scrapped. The biopic made it all the way to the editing room before being canceled.
“When all of us got into the editing room we collectively decided there wasn’t a path forward to tell the version of this story that we originally envisioned,” Williams and director Michel Gondry told Variety.
With movies being continually scrapped, canceled or shelved — often without good reason — it’s clear Hollywood has a hot, new trend: leaving everything on the cutting room floor.
