Long Live Looney Tunes. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for a lot of other IP’s once under the Warner Brothers banner. Among a laundry list of theatrical take-downs, website wipes and digital content deletions, WB recently scrubbed one of its longest-standing streaming services. Standing as the director and writer behind The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie (the first fully-animated, wholly original Looney Tunes theatrical picture in history), Pete Browngardt commented on the recent cancelation of Boomerang, the all-around classic toon channel:
“It’s becoming more and more difficult to, at times, find classic animation that’s out there. Especially with the streaming services. They are wonderful a lot of the time, but they are also the gatekeepers of what’s available. I always say that if you love something, find a physical copy of it and keep it in your house. Because I know when I want to watch something that’s from the past, I try to keep a copy – whether that’s a Blu-ray or whatever you can get.”
This firm stance by Browngardt only amplifies what is currently being felt by those who — at one point — fell in love with all things streaming. While hundreds of classic Looney Tunes shorts were removed at the beginning of last year, they were luckily put back in rotation last March. But other offerings weren’t that lucky. Just in October alone, 80 movies were quietly removed from Max. Not only that, but some hit animated series which once dominated Cartoon Network’s lineup vanished from the platform as well. These included fan favorites such as Regular Show, Ben 10 and Chowder (which Browngradt worked on). That’s not even mentioning the Coyote vs. Acme controversy.
A Classic Duo for Modern Audiences
There’s always going to be an issue with continuing classic IP in different ways. Max is no stranger to this, with its animated series Velma receiving all kinds of backlash for its unique changes to the traditional Scooby-Doo gang. But unlike that series, The Day The Earth Blew Up director insisted that Daffy Duck and Porky Pig would not undergo any drastic transformations by the end of this Looney Tunes film:
I wanted them to have experiences and learn from their experiences – but at the core, Daffy’s still nuts and Porky’s still the good guy.
Browngardt says that he chose this iconic duo based on the fact that they could easily co-exist in the same room and not want to kill each other (unlike a lot of other pairings, from Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam to Sylvester and Tweety). Through this specific pairing, he says that an engaging story could be told.
While the film had its North American Premiere on October 19th at the Animation Is Film Festival in Los Angele, fans of the ageless animated franchise (as well as all-around cartoon enthusiasts) can see The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie when it releases in theaters on February 28th, 2025. Until then though, fans can check out a short synopsis and snippet of the upcoming movie below:
“Porky and Daffy are our unlikely heroes and Earth’s only hope when facing the threat of alien invasion. In this buddy-comedy of epic proportions, they race to save the world, delivering all the laugh-out-loud gags and vibrant visuals that have made the Looney Tunes so iconic, but on a scope and scale yet to be experienced. It’s going to be out of this world!”
The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
- Release Date
- May 17, 2024
- Director
- Peter Browngardt
- Cast
- Peter MacNicol , Fred Tatasciore , Eric Bauza , Candi Milo , April Winchell , Jeff Bergman
- Writers
- Kevin Costello