Summary
- Looney Tunes’ Warner Bros. lot building is being torn down.
- Warner Bros. has made several moves seemingly against the Looney Tunes brand, shelving projects like Coyote Vs. Acme and removing classic cartoons.
- It comes as Warner Bros. shifts focus to adult-oriented content.
Looney Tunes began in 1930, and is one of Warner Bros. oldest and most iconic brands. However, you wouldn’t know it from how the parent company has treated it recently. The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie was just sent to cinemas with no promotion, Coyote Vs. Acme was unceremoniously cancelled, the cartoons themselves have been removed from WB’s streaming, and now, Looney Tunes’ very home is being torn down.
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As per Deadline, the small, single-storey building where Looney Tunes was once made is being knocked down so Warner Bros. can replace it with something much more valuable: nothing. The space will become an empty shooting lot for HBO, and Bugs Bunny’s face continues to be ground into the dirt.
A Recent History Of The Looney Tunes And Warner Bros. Saga
It’s the latest in a long line of what feels increasingly like a target campaign from Warner Bros. against one of its most popular and recognisable brands. The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie cost just $15 million to make, but because nobody knows it exists, it has made just $9 million in the two weeks it has been a theatres. This is despite phenomenal reviews giving it 88 percent critic rating and 89 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Meanwhile, the tale of Coyote Vs. Acme is well know. When work on the film – which had generated a lot of positive buzz within the industry – was nearly complete in Novemeber 2023, Warner Bros. shelved the film as part of a tax write-off, and it seemed it would never see the light of day. There is an upswing to this story, but comes despite Warner Bros., not because of them. Ketchup Entertainment, the distributors of The Day The Earth Blew Up, are in talks to buy the rights to Coyote Vs. Acme, with a 2026 release targeted.
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This follows the removal of the classic Looney Tunes shorts from 1930 through 1969 from HBO Max, with Warner Bros. wanting to focus on adult-oriented shows rather than all ages content. Sesame Street’s older episodes were also recently cut for the same reason. Likewise in gaming, Warner Bros. recently shutdown MultiVersus and laid off several studios, wanting to focus on Batman, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, and Mortal Kombat going forward.
It is thought demolishion could start as early as next week.
- Date Founded
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January 14, 2004
- Parent Company
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Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Warner Bros. Games
- Headquarters
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Burbank, California, United States