Looney Tunes Cartoons

Looney Tunes Cartoons is an American animated television series developed by Pete Browngardt and produced by Warner Bros. Animation, based on the characters from Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. The series made its worldwide debut at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 10, 2019, and premiered on HBO Max on May 27, 2020.

Production
In 2017, after Peter Browngardt finished Uncle Grandpa for Cartoon Network, he met with Audrey Diehl, the creative executive at Warner Bros., at a lunch meeting. They discussed a project in which he was not interested, and as they wrapped up lunch, Pete said, "You know, what I really want to do is to direct a Looney Tunes short". She was surprised that he was a fan of Looney Tunes and booked him a meeting with studio president, Sam Register. Browngardt expressed that he wanted to direct it in the spirit of the classic 1940s cartoons. He then began casting, hiring Eric Bauza, and as an admirer of Jim Soper's art on Instagram, hired him as a character designer.

Warner Bros. Animation announced a new series in June 2018, to "consist of 1,000 minutes spread across 1–6 minute shorts each season", be released in 2019 and featuring "the brand's marquee characters voiced by their current voice actors in simple gag-driven and visually vibrant stories". The style of the series is reminiscent of the classic Looney Tunes shorts, primarily those by Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, and Arthur Davis. Register and Browngardt serve as executive producers for the series. The characters are designed by Jim Soper, with the model sheets copyright dating back to 2018. The initial designs for Looney Tunes Cartoons were previewed in the Warner Bros. Animation logo that was first shown before Teen Titans Go! To the Movies and in subsequent WB direct-to-video movies, the logo featuring Daffy Duck and Porky Pig and itself directed and storyboarded by Browngardt and animated by animation veteran Eric Goldberg. The animation of the series was directed by Joey Capps, who also did animation work on Adult Swim's Superjail!.

The series brought most of the Looney Tunes together under one roof, reintroducing Bugs Bunny, Daffy, Tweety, Sylvester, Porky, The Gremlin, Elmer Fudd, The Gashouse Gorillas, Yosemite Sam, Granny, Marvin the Martian, Doctor Quack, Beaky Buzzard, Mama Buzzard, Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, Cecil Turtle, Sam Sheepdog, Ralph Wolf, the Fly, Cicero Pig, Taz, Gossamer, Dr. Frankenbeans, Witch Hazel, Petunia Pig, the French Horse, Rocky, Mugsy, Clancy Cop, the Russian Dog, the Rich Lady, Foghorn Leghorn, Barnyard Dawg, The Weasel, Hector the Bulldog, the Dead End Kid, the Judge, Pete Puma, Hubie, Bertie, Claude Cat, Fred Sheepdog, George Wolf, Gruesome Gorilla, Mrs. Gruesome Gorilla, Miss Prissy, Marc Anthony, Pussyfoot, Sylvester's drinking buddies, K-9, Charlie Dog, the Three Bears, and Ralph Phillips to a brand new audience.

The animation for the series was outsourced to different studios, including Yowza! Animation, Yearim Productions, Snipple Animation and Tonic DNA. A trailer for the series was released on April 21, 2020. The short Pest Coaster was released on May 5 on the WB Kids YouTube channel as a sneak preview ahead of the release date.

Producers included copious amounts of cartoon violence and Acme Corporation weaponry, but excluded any depictions of firearms in the first season; Elmer Fudd, for example, used different non-firearm weapons (e.i. a scythe or an axe) to hunt Bugs Bunny instead of his shotgun. With the release of Space Jam: A New Legacy, the restriction was removed.

Browngardt confirmed production had resumed for more episodes in 2020. Five new segments were released under the umbrella title Bugs Bunny's 24-Carrot Holiday Special on December 3, 2020.

Jim Soper stated in May 2021 that the series had wrapped up its first 1000 minutes worth of content, with the remaining episodes to be released on HBO Max at later dates. On July 9, 2022, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that there would be a Looney Tunes themed panel at San Diego Comic-Con called Looney Tunes for Everyone, which had the crew from Looney Tunes Cartoons and the two upcoming shows, including supervising producer Alex Kirwan and voice actor Eric Bauza. The panel commenced at 10 A.M. on July 22.

On July 22, 2022, it was announced that a Halloween special titled Bugs Bunny’s Howl-O-Skreem Spooktacula and a new season would be released. The special was released on September 29, 2022.

On November 22, 2022, Browngardt announced that the production was finally finished, with 209 shorts produced. More episodes were confirmed to release in 2023.

The rest of the fifth season premiered on April 6, 2023.

On June 16, 2023, a stop-motion short titled "Daffy in Wackyland" was announced to premiere at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on the following day.

The sixth and final season was released on July 27, 2023.

On September 21, 2023, an event in celebration of Warner Bros.' 100th anniversary was announced to take place at the Animation Is Film Festival on October 22, which includes a Q&A and screenings of "Daffy in Wackyland" and several unreleased shorts.

On June 13, 2024, "Daffy in Wackyland" was released on Max as a bonus episode of season six.

Voice cast

 * Eric Bauza as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety, Barnyard Dawg, Marvin the Martian, Claude Cat, Charlie Dog, The Weasel, Kitten, The Do-Do, Doctor Quack, and The French Horse
 * Bob Bergen as Porky Pig, Cicero Pig, The Gremlin, and The Dead End Kid
 * Jeff Bergman as Sylvester, Elmer Fudd, Foghorn Leghorn, Ralph Wolf and Hector the Bulldog
 * Paul Julian as Road Runner (archival recording) (uncredited)
 * Fred Tatasciore as Yosemite Sam, Taz, Gossamer, Sam Sheepdog, Mugsy, Marc Anthony, Pussyfoot, Gruesome Gorilla, Mrs. Gruesome Gorilla, Cat 1, The Judge, The Mummy, Papa Prissy, the narrator, and The Grim Reaper
 * Candi Milo as Granny, Witch Hazel, Miss Prissy and Mama Bear
 * Michael Ruocco as Beaky Buzzard
 * Keith Ferguson as Cecil Turtle and Champ
 * Lara Jill Miller as Petunia Pig
 * Stephen Stanton as Pete Puma and Baby Bear
 * Sean Kenin as Hubie and Bertie
 * James Adomian as Rocky
 * Kevin Michael Richardson as The Gashouse Gorillas
 * Rachel Butera as Mama Buzzard
 * Kari Wahlgren as Ralph Phillips, Rich Lady, and Bear
 * Pete Browngardt as Dumb Cat
 * Carlos Alazraqui as Clancy Cop and The Leprechaun
 * Tom Kenny as Mad Scientist and Alabaster "Kookoo" Kirwan
 * James Arnold Taylor as Russian Dog
 * Steve Blum as Goon and Proctor
 * Corey Burton as Norm Macabre
 * Roger Craig Smith as Dunk Ellington
 * John DiMaggio as Pilgrim
 * Jennifer Hale as Additional Voices
 * Frank Welker as Golf Tournament Announcer (Hole in Dumb)
 * Kenny Pittenger as Opera Daffy
 * Keone Young as Narrator
 * Andrew Dickman as Papa Bear

Wile E. Coyote appears, but does not talk.

Home media
Ten episodes of the show (all centering around Bugs) were released as bonus features for the Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection Blu-ray set on December 1, 2020. The first three seasons became available to iTunes on August 29, 2021.

Release
Following its Annecy premiere, the series' first 10 episodes were released on HBO Max on May 27, 2020, with the next 20 episodes releasing through April 29, 2021. The series also premiered on Cartoon Network on July 5, 2021, to promote Space Jam: A New Legacy. On April Fools Day, ACME Night aired a marathon of selected shorts with segments of Bugs Bunny pulling pranks on illusionist Kevin Parry.

International broadcast
In Canada, the series premiered on Teletoon on October 11, 2020. In Australia and New Zealand, the series premiered on Cartoon Network on April 23, 2021. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the series premiered on Boomerang on June 7, 2021. On the same date, it premiered on Boomerang in Central and Eastern Europe. In Japan, the series premiered on Cartoon Network on August 15, 2021.

Reception
The first ten shorts debuted at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in June 2019, and were met with very positive reactions, being described as true to the spirit of the original Looney Tunes shorts. Film reviewing site Oneofus.net noted: "While only time will tell if these shorts will become classics, they decidedly will be seen as a noble attempt to bring the "Looney" back into Looney Tunes. The cartoons are manic, beautifully animated, and feature amazing voice acting. Even the music tries to recapture the spirit of the originals. Even the characters are doing like what they did in old 30s and 40s shorts".

The official launch of the first ten episodes with HBO Max was also met with positive reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 88% based on 25 reviews, with an average rating of 8.00/10. The critics' consensus reads: "A vibrantly goofy return to form, Looney Tunes Cartoons is perfectly calibrated cartoon comedy". Metacritic gave the series a weighted score of 71 out of 100 based on 11 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Feature film
A film based on the series, titled The Day the Earth Blew Up, is currently in production and is set to be directed by Browngardt and written by Tom & Jerry's 2021 film writer Kevin Costello, centering on Daffy Duck and Porky Pig trying to stop an alien invasion. The film is scheduled for a theatrical release in the fall of 2024. It was originally set to be released on HBO Max, however, on August 22, 2022, it was announced the film will not be moving forward on HBO Max and will be shopped elsewhere. A one-minute clip of the film was released on September 22, 2022, to be shown later at the Ottawa International Animation Festival. On October 26, 2023, it was announced that the film would instead get a theatrical release; GFM Animation launched sales at the American Film Market from October 31 to November 5, 2023, where first look footage was shown.