Jun 11, 2018

Annecy Warner Bros. Announces “Cartoonist Led” Looney Tunes Shorts Program

There have been many Looney Tunes reboots in the past few years, but there is one adjective that has always been missing from those projects: “cartoonist-driven.”

That all changed with today's announcement. Warner Bros. Animation revealed an incredibly exciting project. It's a new Looney Tunes short that will be written and drawn by a cartoonist, which the studio says will allow the cartoonist's “unique personality and style to be reflected in each cartoon.” [This is similar to the old Warner Bros. system that allowed individual directors like Bob Clampett, Tex Avery, Fritz Fluellen, Chuck Jones, Frank Tashlin, and Bob McKimson the freedom to be creative and make the cartoons they wanted to make. It is the closest thing to it that we have had in a long time. If these shorts follow that pattern, they will certainly bring new attention to the iconic gang of Looney Tunes, who have been largely forgotten by today's children.

Warner Bros. Animation is also going all out with these shorts. Warner Bros. Animation is also committed to these shorts. They produce new 1,000-minute shorts and advertise “high production values,” which is industry jargon for a higher-than-normal production budget. Animations vary in length from one to six minutes, and all employ “cartoonist-driven storytelling,” from premise to jokes.

The masterminds behind the initiative are Sam Register, president of Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Digital Series, and Pete Braungart, creator of Uncle Grandpa. They both serve as executive producers. My personal comment is that there could not be a more perfect combination of executive and creator to do something like this.

“‘Looney Tunes Cartoons’ puts these characters in the hands of some of the best artists in the industry and puts them in an animated short format that will remind us of when we first fell in love with Bugs, Duffy, Porky, and the gang,” Register said in a press Register said in a statement.

The animated shorts will be distributed across multiple platforms, including digital, mobile, and broadcast. The release date is 2019.