Jan 8, 2022

There is something very special about this "We Baby Bears" sign in Burbank

One of the most prime spots for animation promos in Los Angeles is the backwall of Stages 1/2/3 on the Warner Bros. Studios lot, which is visible to passerbys on West Olive Avenue in Burbank.

Since the 1990s, Warner Bros. has used it to promote all manner of animated series and characters produced by Warner Bros. Animation including Looney Tunes, Batman, Superman, Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!, ThunderCats Roar, and DC Super Hero Girls.

In the past, Warner Bros. used to create an elaborate mural that would remain unchanged for years at a time, but in more recent years, the murals have been switched out for smaller, but more frequently updated, billboards. The latest billboard was noticed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Matthew Cherry (Hair Love), and there's something very different about this one:

The billboard promotes Cartoon Network's new series, We Baby Bears, a spin-off of the network's popular series We Bare Bears, developed by Manny Hernandez, supervising director and executive producer on the original series.

The timing of the billboard makes perfect sense since the show premiered on New Year's Day on Cartoon Network. But what's unique about this billboard is that it's the first time Warner Bros. has ever put up a billboard for a show created at Cartoon Network Studios (CNS). This fact was confirmed in a tweet by the show's current executive producer, Calvin Wong.

While the spot has seen plenty of billboards for other shows that have aired on Cartoon Network, such as Teen Titans Go! and Unikitty, those shows were all produced by Warnermedia's Warner Bros. Animation unit. CNS-produced shows have never received this special treatment – not Adventure Time, not The Powerpuff Girls, not Steven Universe.

Now we'll have to wait and see whether other CNS-produced shows will become a part of the billboard rotation or if this is a one-off tribute to one of Cartoon Network's key series. If corporate politics had been an issue in the past, they've become less of an issue after the latest corporate restructuring, in which Sam Register took over the leadership of both Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network Studios. And that could mean a new era of cartoon billboards at the corner of Olive and Pass.