Are We Taking Cinema For Granted? "Coyote vs Acme", "Wildwood" And The Fight For Original Movies
It's easy to take things for granted. Whether it's the warmth of the sun, the air we breathe, or the food on our plate. Don't worry, this isn't going to be some elaborate piece on appreciation or gratitude. That would be wildly out of place on a website about movies.
Or would it?
2026 has offered us a lot of great cinema, a mix of both blockbuster franchise entries as well as smaller or more ambitious projects that are more fitting for Outside the Spotlight. But the thing is, that line between those big-budget studio productions and independent labours of love is blurring.
With the rise of the internet, social media and digital connections, audiences are more accessible to up-and-coming creators than ever before. Case in point, you are reading this right now, on a website that began only from my own desire to share my love of cinema. Outside the Spotlight has since expanded across social media and the web, working with filmmakers and film-related brands to connect you with the best of emerging voices across the cinematic landscape.
Speaking of social media, if you've been following along, you may already be aware of my love of Looney Tunes, and my excitement at the revival of Coyote vs Acme- the live-action/animated hybrid starring John Cena and Will Forte alongside Wile E. Coyote, Roadrunner and a host of other Looney Tunes favourites. Coyote vs Acme is a feature that was initially cancelled by Warner Bros back in 2023, along with a list of other projects both in development and fully completed. Batgirl, for example, is a finished film which may be forever condemned to the WB vault.
Coyote vs Acme was picked up by independent studio Ketchup Entertainment in 2025, and eventually secured a theatrical release this year. Whilst I certainly expected to enjoy it, Coyote vs Acme turned out to be much more than just a fun movie. It's funny, clever, endearing and far more intelligent than a silly little cartoon movie has any right to be. Whilst I could go on, my love for Coyote vs Acme is not the point of this writing, so I'll just refer you to the video I made on it.
Coyote vs Acme turned out to be Warner Bros.' biggest movie of the summer, and what that demonstrates is that audiences are not only interested in enormous franchise blockbusters and CGI spectacles with giant purple aliens looking to wipe out half of humanity. Whilst those franchise pieces are undoubtedly set to make the biggest bucks at the box office, that doesn't mean audiences aren't equally receptive to films offering something different. We've seen an appetite for original horror like Sinners and Weapons, the ambitious filmmaking of One Battle After Another, or character-driven stories like Marty Supreme.
And it's not just audiences that should be embracing distinctive filmmaking. Recognition from the industry itself matters too. Whilst receiving a golden statue at the Oscars does not necessarily dictate what audiences respond to, Coyote vs Acme being eligible for Best Animated Feature and reportedly planning its campaign is a bigger deal for independent film than it may appear. Yes, it's a franchise movie, but the reason any of us even got to see it is because of a small 12-person company in Los Angeles. Even a nomination for Best Animated Feature would be a significant. Whilst the rise of A24 alongside other studios certainly gave indie cinema mainstream credibility, Coyote vs Acme could be on its way to really further cementing its position.
But Coyote vs Acme is not the only contender for Best Animated Feature.
Whilst not independent in quite the same way, and operating on a considerably different scale to smaller independent distributors such as Ketchup Entertainment, LAIKA Studios (Coraline) nevertheless represents something equally important to cinema in 2026: a commitment to original filmmaking and the preservation of a painstaking, hands-on creative process, and their latest Wildwood is 16 years in the making.
(Rather than repeat all of my many thoughts on LAIKA's latest and what it represents in the current landscape, I'll direct you to my review here.)
Wildwood is a true labour of love that has resulted in a monumental achievement for animation. A testament to creativity, artistry and sheer ambition in the physical labour involved to produce a stop-motion feature at this scale. In an age of growing concerns around AI, what it can achieve and what it could mean for the film industry, Wildwood is not only a superb film but a statement, and a win at the Oscars would not only be a win for LAIKA but for all of us who share that concern. Not to say that AI is inherently bad, because, just as with anything, it depends on how it's implemented.
Unfortunately, Wildwood doesn't seem to have much visibility beyond dedicated film circles, with many not knowing that it exists at all. It seems that more and more people are looking for original stories in cinema now than ever before, but there is still a long way to go. Wildwood is struggling at the box office, Even Digger, the latest film from Academy Award-winning director Alejandro González Iñárritu and starring Tom Cruise, has struggled. That doesn't mean all is lost, however. Many films find their audience on streaming or physical media later down the line, but if it's originality we want, get to the cinema.
Perhaps that's the thing we should take away from all of this. Cinema, in all its forms, is something we can very easily take for granted. We expect films to be made, released, distributed and made available to us, often without giving much thought to the enormous amount of work, creativity and risk involved in getting them there. But the reality is that none of it is guaranteed.
Coyote vs Acme could quite easily have remained locked away in a studio vault. Wildwood represents 16 years of extraordinary creative ambition, yet is struggling to find its audience. There are countless other films, filmmakers and creative voices who deserve the opportunity to be seen, but can't always rely on the traditional machinery of the industry to give them that chance.
If we want a cinema landscape that offers more than the familiar, if we want original stories, ambitious filmmaking and people willing to take creative risks, then we have to give those films a chance. That means seeking them out, talking about them, sharing them, and yes, actually supporting them at the cinema.
Because the films we take for granted today might just be the ones we wish we'd supported tomorrow.
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