General Looney Tunes / Assorted WB Animation (that isn't DC) Thread.

The issue is that WBD doesn't quite know how to make a Looney Tunes movie for theaters work.

Since I keep hearing conflicting stories, what was the first Looney Tunes project without Mel Blanc's involvement and the last project with him involved?

The answers I see most often are Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue and Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but is that true for both?

I believe the TV special, Bugs Bunny's Wide World Of Sports was the very last Looney Tunes project with Mel Blanc.

And the first without him? (Is it the infamous anti-drug PSA Cartoon All-Stats to the Rescue?)

Bugs Bunny Builders and Tiny Toons Looniversity both got a two-season order. They already had their respective second seasons in production before the merger.

The Acme Fools shorts on YouTube that were posted on Warner Bros.' 100th anniversary are another sign that Warner Bros. still cares about Looney Tunes to an extent, it just could have some difficulty showing it correctly.

As I said, they've just never really figured out how to get Looney Tunes to work on the big screen.

Space Jam was kind of lightning in a bottle they have yet to recapture.

Edited by M84 on Mar 21st 2024 at 9:10:43 PM

Back in Action is a great Looney Tunes movie. I don't know why it bombed so hard, but it's not because it sucked.

Conversely, both Space Jam movies are snoozefests.

Yeah I was kinda shocked to learn that Bi A was considered a bad film later in life.

Financial failure or not, Looney Tunes: Back in Action will always be an underrated cult classic in my book. The live-action/animation integration is good, not quite Who Framed Roger Rabbit standard, but still good regardless.

Edited by aldrinejoseph25 on Mar 21st 2024 at 6:37:47 AM

They gave a Looney Tunes movie to the one guy who could have done it justice and it bombed... Fate is a cruel mistress indeed.

Still, there were some things they probably could have changed... for one thing, the original idea for the opening, with Daffy Duck as a Batman parody done in the DCAU style, would have been better than yet another take on "Rabbit Fire."

"You killed Elmer! You can't kill Elmer!"

"Oh, he comes back from the dead later, horribly scarred and even more insane! The kids love it..."

Edited by Aldo930 on Mar 21st 2024 at 6:41:04 AM

I think part of this original opening was used in the videogame.

I think the current direction of trying to make the Looney Tunes more kid friendly and sanitized while at the same time trying only giving the spotlight on Tweety and Lola Bunny (because in terms of marketing, they are more popular to girls) probably for female empowerment and pride festivities kinda divided the fanbase. And the move into NF Ts did not last long.

Whatever is going on with the manager, I think the brand should go on hiatus and reset. The brand should be less kid friendly and be marketed more towards teens and adults, not just kids.

Edited by rwinger24 on Mar 21st 2024 at 12:17:28 PM

Tweety's major push was specifically due to their anniversary back in 2022. Otherwise Tweety's exposure isn't any more prominent than any other character in cast that's not Bugs and Daffy. Like, Taz recently got a direct-to-video film by Kablam's creator, and he's always been a reccuring character in merchandise.

Also, Looney Tunes Cartoons is that all-ages, yet still has that risque edge, modern Looney Tunes project you're referring to. That was literally part of the pitch of the series. It only just ended a few months ago, yet it's getting a spiritual spin-off with the upcoming The Day the Earth Blew Up film.

Edited by XMenMutant22 on Mar 21st 2024 at 6:25:08 AM

I definitely get Tweety’s 80th birthday. It influenced the production of Tiny Toons Looniversity when you have Sweetie as one of the main characters. In Bugs Bunny Builders, they made Tweety a huge focus as well since he is more popular with preschoolers. Kinda hard to write a lot of episodes focusing on Bugs. They even made a whole direct to video movie as part of the tie-in.

The inclusion of more Lola Bunny was likely coming off of Space Jam: A New Legacy. They ditched her Looney Tunes Show/New Looney Tunes personalities in favor of one that falls in line with the “strong, empowered female” archetype. They did this with Granny and Witch Hazel in Tiny Toons Looniversity too. Results varied but Bugs Bunny Builders handled Lola Bunny the best as a good role model for preschoolers.

Looney Tunes Cartoons definitely was part of that all-ages risqué edge. At the same time, it was said that a handful of shorts they produced got flagged by standards and practices thus sitting on the shelf. “Sick as a Hare” got shelved due to COVID. Some pushed the boundaries too far likely because of violence and things deemed politically incorrect in today’s age. Pepé and Speedy were the only marquee characters left out besides a quick one second cameo in the Bugs Bunny 80th birthday short.

They got away with a lot of things but they couldn’t do anything with Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam’s signature props. That rule is often restricted to the TV spin-offs.

Bugs Bunny deserved better. His 80th birthday got cut short due to COVID. I think they are gonna make him be a bigger focus in Bugs Bunny Builders Season 2. It’s even more sad when his own movie, “Bye Bye Bunny” is either in limbo or likely shelved altogether.

This era is about to come to a close with the theatrical Porky and Daffy movie and it should spark something in a time of uncertainty.

Edited by rwinger24 on Mar 21st 2024 at 5:05:03 AM

The characters (besides Lola) will at least eventually become public domain, even if it's agonizingly slowly.

As is, I don't see a future for them at Warner.

There is still a future for them there, if not in movie theaters.

That reminds me of something that Jerry Beck said recently about how within the next several years, we're probably going to be seeing several studios scrambling to do whatever they can with the animation products they own before they enter the public domain.

Technically they STILL can do those things with those characters even AFTER they enter public domain. ANYONE can use them including the original IP owners, and on top of it, they still can use references to later versions of said characters, unlike everyone else.

Edited by TomWithoutJerry on Mar 21st 2024 at 5:43:02 AM

I mean, some of the older Looney Tunes shorts^note "Falling Hare", "The Wacky Wabbit" and "Daffy the Commando", to name a few. are in the public domain because Warner Bros. failed to renew their copyrights in time.

Edited by aldrinejoseph25 on Mar 21st 2024 at 6:07:18 AM

I don't think anyone actually capable of making something with those specific shorts would be foolish enough to try it before the first recognizable instance of the characters within are also legal to use.

Wouldn't anyone be free to use the name Looney Tunes and the character Bosko (aka the very first Looney Tunes character) since the first short Sinkin in the Bathtub is in public domain?

Warner Bros. actually took a tax write-off on something in the early 2000's, several years before David Zaslav came on board. That was the second season of the Baby Blues TV series, and given how much it was an insult to the comic strip it was based on and was disliked by fans and critics, can we blame Warner Bros. for that?

Edited by aldrinejoseph25 on Mar 21st 2024 at 7:42:28 AM

Looney Tunes is trademarked. Many of Bosko’s early shorts are in the public domain.

Goopy Geer as well as Foxy and Roxy can be considered public domain.

The Gremlin from Falling Hare is also public domain. WB had trouble getting the rights to use the character to cameo in Space Jam. He belongs to third party now.

Edited by rwinger24 on Mar 21st 2024 at 8:16:23 AM

Weird given they had no trouble showing him on Tiny Toons.