Almost entirely in and around Albuquerque, New Mexico, real courthouse, real botanic garden, real stretch of Route 66, all standing in for themselves rather than pretending to be somewhere else.
After Warner Bros. famously shelved the film as a tax write-off and fans pushed back loudly enough that a new distributor picked it up, Coyote vs. Acme finally hit theaters on August 28, 2026. The strange journey to get it released has mostly overshadowed a fun local detail: this is one of the more thoroughly Albuquerque movies to come out of the city’s film boom, not just filmed here, but actually set here and built around real local landmarks.
So, Where Was Coyote vs. Acme Actually Filmed?
Principal photography ran from March through May 2022, entirely in and around Albuquerque, according to the New Mexico Film Office. Unlike a lot of productions that use a city as a generic stand-in for somewhere else, the movie is actually set in Albuquerque, which meant the production could lean directly into real, recognizable local buildings instead of dressing up a soundstage.
The Real Albuquerque Buildings Playing Fictional Roles
Several of the film’s key sets aren’t sets at all, they’re buildings you can actually drive to.
Acme Corporation’s Headquarters Is Actually a UNM Building
The imposing, glass-fronted Acme Corporation headquarters in the film is the University of New Mexico’s Film & Digital Arts Building at Mesa del Sol, transformed through visual effects into a menacing corporate campus. For the building’s lobby interior, the production used an Audi dealership on Pan American Freeway instead, splicing two real Albuquerque locations together into one fictional company.
The Courthouse Scenes Used the Real Bernalillo County Court
Wile E. Coyote’s legal battle plays out at the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court, a real, working civic building in downtown Albuquerque, lending the courtroom scenes a level of authenticity a built set couldn’t easily fake. Buddy Crane’s law office, meanwhile, was shot at the New Mexico Mutual building near Balloon Fiesta Parkway, and the scrappier law firm representing Coyote was placed along Menaul Boulevard.
Other Real Spots Eagle-Eyed Viewers Will Recognize
The film’s Porky Pig wrecking-ball gag was shot at 3rd Street and Central Avenue downtown, right along the historic Route 66 corridor, with the Library Bar & Grill visible in the background. The ABQ BioPark Botanic Garden stands in for a hidden garden scene, and the New Mexico Rail Runner Express makes an appearance too, alongside additional locations around Conchas Park and stretches of Highway 550.
Why Albuquerque Was the Obvious Choice for a Looney Tunes Movie
This wasn’t a random location decision. Albuquerque has been mentioned in Looney Tunes cartoons for generations, Bugs Bunny’s old “left turn at Albuquerque” line being the most famous example, and the American Southwest has always been the implied backdrop for Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner’s endless desert chase. Filming here also wasn’t the franchise’s first physical tie to the city: in 2021, the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science hosted an exhibit of original Warner Bros. cartoon art timed to overlap with the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, whose poster that year featured Bugs Bunny, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote alongside the balloons.
What the Production Meant for Local Crews
According to the City of Albuquerque Film Office, the production employed roughly 180 New Mexico crew members, 49 New Mexico principal actors, and more than 2,100 local background performers, real jobs and paychecks that landed in the local economy years before the movie’s tangled release history finally got it into theaters.
Where Was Coyote vs. Acme Filmed, and Who Actually Worked on It?
It’s worth pointing out that a production this size doesn’t just need actors and a director, it needs local electricians, caterers, drivers, location scouts, and hundreds of background performers, the same kind of below-the-line work we’ve written about before when covering Albuquerque’s film industry more broadly. Coyote vs. Acme is a solid, specific example of what that work actually looks like on the ground.
Frequently Asked Questions About Coyote vs. Acme’s Filming Locations
The vast majority of principal photography took place in and around Albuquerque, with the New Mexico Film Office listing additional New Mexico locations as part of the production as well.
The exterior is the University of New Mexico’s Film & Digital Arts Building at Mesa del Sol, while the lobby interior was filmed at an Audi dealership on Pan American Freeway.
Yes. The courtroom scenes were filmed at the real Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court in downtown Albuquerque.
Principal photography ran from March through May 2022, though the film’s theatrical release was delayed for several years after Warner Bros. initially shelved it
Warner Bros. shelved the completed film as a reported tax write-off, but public backlash from fans eventually led a different distributor to pick it up, and it reached theaters on August 28, 2026.
The City of Albuquerque Film Office reported approximately 180 New Mexico crew members, 49 New Mexico principal actors, and more than 2,100 local background performers worked on the film.
Albuquerque and the wider American Southwest have long been associated with the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote cartoons, including Bugs Bunny’s classic “left turn at Albuquerque” line, making the city a fitting real-world setting for the story.
The Bottom Line
Coyote vs. Acme’s long, strange road to theaters is a fun Hollywood story on its own, but for Albuquerque, it’s really the latest entry in a much bigger pattern: this city keeps showing up on screen as itself, courthouse, botanic garden, Route 66 storefronts and all, because productions keep finding real value in filming here rather than faking it somewhere else.
We are Jennifer and Vinay Rodgers with The Rodgers Neighborhood Real Estate Group, powered by Real Broker, LLC. If seeing Albuquerque on the big screen again has you curious about the neighborhoods behind the scenes, our neighborhoods near the film locations guide is a good place to start, or connect with our team directly. Reach us at 505-514-5356 or 505-417-2733.
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