Filmmakers took to Twitter/X to sing their praises for Coyote vs. Acme after Warner Bros. Discovery shelved and scrapped the live-action CGI hybrid film for a $30 million tax write-off.
I … don't get it. What is the purpose of a tax writeoff? Suppose it saves them money this year. But they lose a much larger profit. Is it being saved for later when their fortunes are lower?
I assume someone somewhere decided that it was going to net a profit (after already sunk production costs and yet-to-be-spent promoting costs and other obligations) of less than $30 million.
So if given the choice between hoping it maybe makes $20-40 million in net profit vs a guaranteed $30 million as a tax write-off, that's easy math for the number crunchers.
I have no idea but they could also have decided they didn't want to spend to promote it. It costs a fortune in money up front to promote movies these days, even after the movie is 'in the can'. Money is getting more and more expensive with interest rates going up, so financing even promotional costs is more expensive.
Might it also be possible that they're trying this as a method of guerilla marketing? People get angry at the cancellation and spread the word, then they capitulate and uncancel it.
This is the third movie they've shelved in the last couple years, so seems unlikely (for context there have only been like 20 films ever shelved this late into production)
Something else to consider: Chip n Dale and the Tom and Jerry live action/CGI films didn't make a ton of money either.
Why risk it when the risk was already taken numerous times, hell throw the puppet homicide movie in there too, by other companies?
It’s a write off for them, Jerry, they just - pftpftpft - write it off!
I wouldn’t think they could take the write off if it’s ever shown.
Then you've fallen into the exact trap everyone does about "write offs". They can write off the same amount whether they release it or not, because they can write off all expenses for everything.
If they thought they'd make a much larger profit by releasing it, they would. Likely they think it's shit (rightly or wrongly) and isn't worth putting a marketing budget behind before they could see any gains.
Son of a… I was really liking the idea of this movie… what a shit ass move by Warner Bros.
Their CEO (Zaslav) is a total piece of shit
It never occurred to me that he is in charge of Looney Tunes. What a shitty development. And Disney owns about everything else.
Yeah the amount of media consolidation we have right now is an a huge problem and it just keeps getting worse.
Hmmmmm…a whole bunch of articles about a star-studded movie that was canned and is now being praised by critics. I think I smell a hype machine working…
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According to reports, the movie cost around $72 million and involved Hollywood personalities like John Cena and James Gunn as producers.
Warner Bros. cited a shift in global strategy towards focusing on theatrical releases as the reason for this decision. The studio expressed respect for the filmmakers, cast, and crew, acknowledging their contributions to the project.
This decision follows similar actions taken with the shelving of Batgirl and Scoobi Holiday Haunt in August 2022, both originally intended for streaming. They were subsequently shelved as a tax write-down amid efforts to find savings within the company.
The problem isn't that they're doing it, the problem is a tax code that not only allows it, but makes it a valuable election.
All the people who worked on it have nothing to show on their CVs, which means that if they are made redundant - and many probably only had contracts for the duration of the project anyway - it will be harder to get another job.
Everything about this screams marketing
