ANIMATIONLAND Why Isn’t Looney Tunes Cartoons Available Internationally?
The latest incarnation of the Looney Tunes franchise is a gem, yet non-US viewers are currently unable to see it.
Like many others, I was quite thrilled when I saw the trailer for Space Jam: A New Legacy, which looks like a funny tribute to all things Warner Bros. and will hopefully get the characters’ personalities right, unlike the first film (which I’m not a fan of). That trailer also had me thinking about the other current iteration of the long-running animation franchise, which sadly is largely unavailable to viewers who don’t reside in the United States.
First announced in 2018, Looney Tunes Cartoons is a series of cartoon shorts, with runtimes ranging from one to six minutes, where the characters get up to various shenanigans, often of the zany and very violent variety. The intention is to be faithful to the style and tone of the classic 1940s version of the franchise. The regular voice cast includes Eric Bauza (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety, Marvin the Martian, and others), Bob Bergen (Porky Pig), Jeff Bergman (Elmer Fudd, Sylvester, and others) Fred Tatasciore (Taz, Yosemite Sam, and others) and Candi Milo (Granny).
The series was initially showcased as part of a generic Warner Animation Group panel at the 2018 Annecy Festival, with a description of the project and a work-in-progress screening of two shorts (Curse of the Monkeybird and Dynamite Dance). A year later, the first completed shorts were shown at a special gala screening in Annecy, complete with behind-the-scenes footage. To say it brought the house down – I was in attendance – would be an understatement: the exhilaration was palpable, from the opening notes of the theme tune to the final “That’s all, folks!” sign-off.
At the time of the original presentation, the series was described as a 1000-minute endeavor, to be distributed across multiple platforms (theatrical, linear television, VOD, streaming). That’s true – sort of. Since June 2020, new shorts have been added periodically to the HBO Max catalogue, but that is US-only, as previously discussed in another article.
So, what of international viewers? Some shorts are available on WarnerMedia’s official YouTube channels, and ten of them – all revolving around Bugs Bunny – are included as extras on the recent 80th anniversary special edition Blu-ray featuring the lion’s share (or should that be rabbit’s share) of his filmography. But that accounts for only 19 shorts, out of 59 that have been released so far. Unless you were among the lucky few who got to see some of the stuff in Annecy.
Under current circumstances (namely, HBO Max not being a thing internationally until late summer at the earliest, and only in select territories), it makes little to no sense to withhold the majority of the series from a global audience, especially when it could be a nice way to build up the hype for the upcoming movie. I mean, a product that actually lives up to the Looney Tunes name, and gloriously so, with another one potentially on the way? To quote Daffy Duck, not making it widely available is desss-picable.
Do you agree? Are you looking forward to the new Space Jam movie? Sound off in the comments, and share this with friends if you liked it.