Warner not showing much faith in the Looney Tunes now?

wiley207

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I couldn't help but notice in recent years, Warner Bros. Animation does not seem to have much faith in the Looney Tunes franchise. There are a few instances where it appears that way:

For the most part, Warner did not get any of their better writers and creative team to work on "The Looney Tunes Show," only mostly relying on the Improv team of Hugh Davidson, Larry Dorf, etc. whom all didn't seem to know much about Warner Bros. cartoons. Instead, they sent their better writers over to "Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated," which was generally more well-written and better-animated.
The voice casting for the Looney Tunes can often vary quite a bit. For "Rabbits Run," Marvin the Martian and Pete Puma were recast once again; even Lola Bunny! (Though with her it'd make sense, due to Kristen Wiig's availability or something.) Warner is more consistent with voice-casting with their other franchises, currently.
Warner almost never makes any direct-to-video Looney Tunes movies, instead mostly focusing on Scooby-Doo and Tom and Jerry. Though that may change with "Rabbits Run." But even so, it appears Warner clearly put more effort into "Tom and Jerry: Spy Quest" and the Scooby-Doo/KISS crossover movie than they did with "Rabbits Run."
Warner also had "Rabbits Run" animated by Rough Draft Korea, whom didn't do that great a job animating it. Now, usually Warner rarely uses Rough Draft, and not having this movie animated by Yearim or Toon City, or even their more favored Korean studios Lotto Animation and DongWoo A&E, appears to be a sign that Warner shows little faith in the Looney Tunes franchise, sending it to be animated by a studio they rarely use (heck, not having "The Looney Tunes Show" animated by DongWoo or Lotto also appears to be the same reason.) Lotto has shown they CAN animate the Looney Tunes pretty well (better than Rough Draft, at least), though DongWoo's Looney Tunes experience seems mostly limited to "Baby Looney Tunes" and "Loonatics Unleashed" (blech.)
When it comes to home media releases, Warner Home Video has released nearly all of the Scooby-Doo and Tom & Jerry media out there (with a few exceptions), yet Looney Tunes stuff is another story. There are still a high number of theatrical shorts that haven't come to DVD or Blu-Ray yet, and a number of the TV shows have not completely been released on DVD yet (not even "The Looney Tunes Show," while its sister show "Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated" DID get the complete series released on DVD.)

This doesn't sound very good. It all seems to have started after "Looney Tunes: Back in Action" bombed and Warner considered hand-drawn theatrical animation "dead," and began to pull the plug on a lot of Looney Tunes stuff at the time.
 

DVDLooney

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I couldn't help but notice in recent years, Warner Bros. Animation does not seem to have much faith in the Looney Tunes franchise. There are a few instances where it appears that way:

For the most part, Warner did not get any of their better writers and creative team to work on "The Looney Tunes Show," only mostly relying on the Improv team of Hugh Davidson, Larry Dorf, etc. whom all didn't seem to know much about Warner Bros. cartoons. Instead, they sent their better writers over to "Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated," which was generally more well-written and better-animated.
The voice casting for the Looney Tunes can often vary quite a bit. For "Rabbits Run," Marvin the Martian and Pete Puma were recast once again; even Lola Bunny! (Though with her it'd make sense, due to Kristen Wiig's availability or something.) Warner is more consistent with voice-casting with their other franchises, currently.
Warner almost never makes any direct-to-video Looney Tunes movies, instead mostly focusing on Scooby-Doo and Tom and Jerry. Though that may change with "Rabbits Run." But even so, it appears Warner clearly put more effort into "Tom and Jerry: Spy Quest" and the Scooby-Doo/KISS crossover movie than they did with "Rabbits Run."
Warner also had "Rabbits Run" animated by Rough Draft Korea, whom didn't do that great a job animating it. Now, usually Warner rarely uses Rough Draft, and not having this movie animated by Yearim or Toon City, or even their more favored Korean studios Lotto Animation and DongWoo A&E, appears to be a sign that Warner shows little faith in the Looney Tunes franchise, sending it to be animated by a studio they rarely use (heck, not having "The Looney Tunes Show" animated by DongWoo or Lotto also appears to be the same reason.) Lotto has shown they CAN animate the Looney Tunes pretty well (better than Rough Draft, at least), though DongWoo's Looney Tunes experience seems mostly limited to "Baby Looney Tunes" and "Loonatics Unleashed" (blech.)

When it comes to home media releases, Warner Home Video has released nearly all of the Scooby-Doo and Tom & Jerry media out there (with a few exceptions), yet Looney Tunes stuff is another story. There are still a high number of theatrical shorts that haven't come to DVD or Blu-Ray yet, and a number of the TV shows have not completely been released on DVD yet (not even "The Looney Tunes Show," while its sister show "Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated" DID get the complete series released on DVD.)

This doesn't sound very good. It all seems to have started after "Looney Tunes: Back in Action" bombed and Warner considered hand-drawn theatrical animation "dead," and began to pull the plug on a lot of Looney Tunes stuff at the time.

Looney Tunes, in this day and age, in my opinion is just completely underappreciated. Looney Tunes just isn't as popular as Tom and Jerry and Scooby Doo, yet, it's just as a popular franchise. The home releases for any Looney Tunes-related is long overdue. Why they're always dragging their feet when it comes to Home media releases for Looney Tunes stuff drives me up the wall. Ugh.
 

cheril59

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Looney Tunes, in this day and age, in my opinion is just completely underappreciated. Looney Tunes just isn't as popular as Tom and Jerry and Scooby Doo, yet, it's just as a popular franchise. The home releases for any Looney Tunes-related is long overdue. Why they're always dragging their feet when it comes to Home media releases for Looney Tunes stuff drives me up the wall. Ugh.
I like hand-drawn theatrical animation. Just recently, Nickelodeon released "Sponge Out of Water: The SpongeBob Movie", and nearly the entire movie was handled, as usual, by Rough Draft Korea. Besides, Rough Draft Korea, in my opinion, really did wonders with "Rabbits Run", what with the same improve writers from "The Looney Tunes Show" started to use some more slapstick-comedy approaches, (e.g. Mutant Daffy cameo from "Duck Amuck", Bugs, Lola, and Sam fighting and changing costumes at the same time.) Also, "Wabbit" is coming to Boomerang soon, so don't worry; Warner Bros. was and is appreciative for Looney Tunes.
 

Toon Master

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I agree and it's pretty sad. We're truly losing touch with the past in animation and other things currently. The Looney Tunes shorts are probably some of the best cartoons ever created and they're being forgotten by the kids of this generation, or maybe I should say they aren't as revered as they were in generations past. People on this board seem to turn their blind eyes away from that.
 

90'sKid

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May I ask what "Wabbit" is? Is there any information on it?


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Coffee

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How are they not showing much faith in it? They're coming out with a new series this year (which I'm very excited about).
 

Erased Paper

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We're truly losing touch with the past in animation and other things currently. The Looney Tunes shorts are probably some of the best cartoons ever created and they're being forgotten by the kids of this generation, or maybe I should say they aren't as revered as they were in generations past. People on this board seem to turn their blind eyes away from that.
I still like them. Anyway, it is what it is.
 

usman2k_us

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thats what i say wb stands for wrecking balls and they also ruin their own franchise,and now disney is much better promising as compared to warner bros
 

chocolate

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They need to make some 2-D animated shorts with the Looney Tunes characters just for old time sake. It will be good for them financially and for us emotionally. Well I may be proving wrong.

f4d06768150a2433b854102e8bbf87d7--buzzard-bugs-bunny.jpg
 

Checkerboard

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I think the reason WB is ignoring Looney Tunes these days, in comparison with Tom and Jerry and Scooby-Doo, is because it's simply harder to make. In the case of Tom and Jerry you can throw the two anywhere and it'll work. The basic premise is simple. Two main speechles characters fighting. You just change the environment, situations and designs. With Scooby it's a bit harder, but still fairly easy. Core premise remains. You just change bad guys, mysteries and designs. Both shows can be adapted and updated easily for modern audiences - which are the main target demographic and not us. Looney Tunes... Not so much. If anything, there's way too many equally important characters and the dialogues are more complex. Also designs and voice actors. There's a much bigger room for error. The latest efforts weren't that good. So I presume they just don't want to mess up and make new iterations just for the sake of it.
 

jaylop97

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Today Looney Tunes isn't as big as it once nearly 20 years ago, I think that WB hasn't really been all to into Looney Tunes as of late just seeing how Wabbit isn't very showcased as are other modern cartoons. For the most part the original Looney Tunes they are still a cult classic, while most modern Looney Tunes just have a debatable appearance to most as its an either you like or don't like show, Baby Looney Tunes and The Looney Tunes fit that category. While Wabbit again is just going on but not too much attention is being given to it.
 

Daffyrocks

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I think the user meant theatrical shorts, that there should be more Looney Tunes theatrical shorts to help attract a wider audience.
I doubt that. Today, classic characters reboots are mainly made only through TV episodes, and rarely through full-lenght feature films.

Theatrical shorts with main cartoon characters was a product of its time. Now, it's outdated. Plus, all current TV episodes with funny animal protagonitsts are made almost in the vain of these theatricals. And people will go out "Wut?" if they suddenly see a new Bugs Bunny theatrical cartoon made by WBA after a whole lotta time.
 

SweetShop209

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I doubt that. Today, classic characters reboots are mainly made only through TV episodes, and rarely through full-lenght feature films.

Theatrical shorts with main cartoon characters was a product of its time. Now, it's outdated. Plus, all current TV episodes with funny animal protagonitsts are made almost in the vain of these theatricals. And people will go out "Wut?" if they suddenly see a new Bugs Bunny theatrical cartoon made by WBA after a whole lotta time.
Well, then maybe the Looney Tunes should just stick to commercials, where there material will have more of a chance to thrive without the controversy that all post-Mel Blanc projects have.

Edit: To give an example, here's a Yogi Bear commercial that Jeff Bergman and Eric Bauza


It's true to the characters while still updating them for modern times right, unlike the 2010 film. Given the times that Looney Tunes tried to go in a more story driven direction (Duck Dodgers, The Looney Tunes Show, Loonatics Unleashed, and all the movies both live action and animation) were controversial in supposedly messing up the characters and not going through with character development , and the times it tries to go for only comedy (such as Wabbit) comparisons are generally unfavorable to the original theatrical shorts. In short, have the characters be only in commercials and occasional shorts so as to not draw controversy.
 
Last edited:

ShadowBlinky

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Well, then maybe the Looney Tunes should just stick to commercials, where there material will have more of a chance to thrive without the controversy that all post-Mel Blanc projects have.

Edit: To give an example, here's a Yogi Bear commercial that Jeff Bergman and Eric Bauza


I
That was incredible!! Thank you so much for showing!
 

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