Latest news with #LooneyTunesCartoons
The Independent
28-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Warner Bros to demolish Looney Tunes building after scrubbing classic cartoons
The single-story Warner Bros building where Looney Tunes was once housed is being demolished. According to Deadline, Building 131 will be torn down to create space for several HBO shows that are shooting on the 62-acre studio lot in Burbank, California. The building will reportedly not be replaced. Sources told the publication that works began some time ago and that staff are being told not to park in the vicinity. The Independent has contacted the studio for comment. It follows news that HBO Max scrubbed the iconic cartoon's original shorts from the streaming site. The streaming site, which is owned by Warner Bros Discovery, has removed the remaining 255 original Looney Tunes shorts, leaving fans to call for the franchise to be made publicly accessible. According to Deadline, the decision is part of a new plan for the streamer to prioritise adult and family programming over children's programming, which is no longer considered popular by the streamer. One unimpressed fan wrote on Reddit of the bulldozed building: 'There couldn't possibly be a better metaphor for the state and trajectory of WB than this.' Another commenter branded Warner Bros as having a 'vendetta' against the Looney Tunes franchise. One fan added: 'Warner Bros was built on the Looney Tunes. A shame how they're treated.' Another commented on the episodes being removed from Max, saying: ' Looney Tunes should be a nationalised public utility, freely available and easily accessible. I realise there are other, more pressing issues right now and this will need to be a longer-term political goal, but I think it should be put on the agenda.' Other spinoff versions of Looney Tunes remain on Max, including six seasons of 2020's Looney Tunes Cartoons, two seasons of 2015's New Looney Tunes, two seasons of 2002's Baby Looney Tunes and two seasons of 2023's Tiny Toons Looniversity. The Warner Bros -owned franchise began as a series of animated shorts, which were released during the golden age of American animation between 1930 to 1969, and more than 1,000 episodes were released under Looney Tunes and spin-off banner Merrie Melodies. The cartoon became known for popular characters including Bugs Bunny, Tweety, Foghorn Leghorn, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig – who delivered the catchphrase 'That's all, folks', which eventually became a Looney Tunes trademark. The news coincides with the release of the feature-length Looney Tunes animated movie, The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Story, which was released on 14 March. It stars Daffy Duck and Porky Pig and has received a score of 87 per cent on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes so far.
New York Times
13-03-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘The Day the Earth Blew Up' Review: Daffy, Porky, Petunia and Alien Goo
Porky Pig just turned 90. His first cartoon was released on March 2, 1935; his tormentor and eventual foil Daffy Duck came along a couple of years later. These Warner Bros. comedic chaos agents were wild ripostes to Disney's arguably saccharine Mickey Mouse. And after years of entertaining adults in the movie theaters of the early- and mid-20th century, television exposure turned Porky and Daffy, along with Bugs Bunny and others, into inspirations for generations of young wiseacres. 'The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie,' directed by Peter Browngardt from a script by almost a dozen writers, races out of the gate with old-school moxie. Browngardt is a 'Futurama' and Cartoon Network veteran. He's also been honing his approach to Daffy and Porky with television's 'Looney Tunes Cartoons,' which has run six seasons on Max. Browngardt's gnarly approach to the Looney Tunes characters seems more influenced by the gross-out antics of Nickelodeon's 'Ren & Stimpy,' than by, say, Warner's own much-missed 'Animaniacs.' The 20th- and now 21st-century pictures featuring these toons are a mixed bag. The least-inspired iterations of the characters, in the 'Space Jam' movies, have been the most popular. Joe Dante's wonderful 'Looney Tunes: Back in Action,' from 2003, had the spirit of the older cartoons — it appreciated the value of dropping anvils on coyotes' heads, and more — but failed to find box office favor. But in Browngardt's installment, citing pop-culture references and breaking out into song have little to no place. Instead, the movie subjects Daffy Duck to a butt-crack joke, and compels him to twerk. Which feels especially weird because the style in which our heroes are depicted comes directly from the Looney Tunes of old. The movie's technical aspects are largely admirable, and it pays homage to the greats of the animation department once known as Termite Terrace by naming the movie's restaurants after the past masters Robert Clampett and Tex Avery. Early on, the young BFFs Daffy and Porky are instructed by a creepy character that if they 'stick together,' all will turn out right for them. Sticking is a major motif here, as an alien goo renders a new brand of chewing gum irresistible. It also makes its consumers mindless zombies. With the help of a 'flavor expert,' Petunia Pig, Daffy and Porky scurry to save the world from, yes, blowing up like a gum bubble. The action is frenetic and gleefully vulgar; at one point a dome of bubble gum emerges from a dog's rear end. There's also some old-school slapstick; chattering fake teeth turn out to be practically world-saving. But the movie's energy doesn't pay off in dividends of real pleasure. Anarchy has never been so mere as it is ultimately rendered here. The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes MovieRated PG. Running time: 1 hour 31 minutes. In theaters.
