Warner Bros. to embrace the grim futility of life by putting a Wile E. Coyote movie in the works

If you subscribe to the notion that there’s a nobility inherent in suffering, then there’s nobody in the Looney Tunes universe more noble than doomed pursuer Wile E. Coyote. Sure, other LT villains get almost as much crap piled on their heads, but the difference here is context: Even at his word-mangling cutest, Elmer Fudd is still an unsympathetic trophy hunter, and Yosemite Sam a straight-up asshole. The Coyote, by contrast, is just trying to follow his instincts and get a bite to fucking eat. (Albeit, in a manner that usually involves painting tunnels onto mountains and strapping himself into a pair of dangerously untested rocket skates).

Now, Variety reports that the modern Sisyphus is getting his chance to rage against the gods on the big screen, for once: Warner Bros. has announced that it’s putting into development a project titled Coyote Vs. Acme, in which everyone’s favorite frequently flattened canine finally takes out his rage on the mail-order malingerers whose fancy, expensive products never seem to actually goddamn work.

The film is being scripted by Jon and Josh Silberman, and produced by Lego Batman director Chris McKay. It’s been a long while (15 years!) since the Looney Tunes last had a starring role in theaters, although those rumors of a Space Jam sequel have kept the idea at least sort of alive. Meanwhile, we’d like to make a personal plea to the Silberman siblings as they work out the plot of the film: For the love of god, please let him eat the evil, taunting bird, for once. When we were kids, it was sad-but-funny to watch someone spend his entire live pursuing impossible goals that only hurt him for the effort; now, the whole concept feels too real to even bother with animation.