Warner Bros., known for giving the world the famous Looney Tunes franchise, has been purging the franchise from its servers. Recently, Warner Bros. removed all the classic Looney Tunes cartoons from the streaming service HBO Max.
Warner Bros. has been purging its digital libraries of all animated content in recent years. This comes from the franchises not making money like they used to and getting tax write-offs because of it.
In 2022, Warner Bros. and Discovery merged to become one company, “Warner Bros. Discovery.” Yeah, the name doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. There was just one problem with this merger. While the company might make more money from this merger, the downside is that they shelved, canceled and deleted a huge majority of their content along with popular animated franchises like the Looney Tunes.
Loony Tunes has been getting the short end of the stick with not just their original cartoons getting pulled, but three fully animated films have been shelved as well.
Thanks to Ketchup Entertainment, we will get to see two of these films, “The Day the Earth Blew Up” and “Coyote vs.. Acme.” Still, films like “Bye Bye Bunny” may never see the light of day thanks in part to the Warner Bros.’ animation decimation.
It’s not just the Looney Tunes movies that were shelved. The full animated “Scoob: Holiday Hunt” was also shelved as a tax write-off by Warner Bros. last year. This also includes the “Batgirl” movie that was in the works but was canceled by Warner Bros. before it even got to see the light of day.
This doesn’t put Warner Bros. in a good position with them canceling projects left and right. Most of their Hanna-Barbera properties, including Scooby-Doo and Loony Tunes. These properties are being picked up by other companies like Netflix with their live-action Scooby-Doo series in the works. Rumors are going around that Warner Bros. is looking to sell the Looney Tunes franchise as well.
I loved watching these franchises as a kid, and I’m disappointed with how Warner Bros. is handling its properties. Warner Bros. also recently ended two of its animated properties this year with “Tiny Toon Looniversity” and “Jellystone.” They canceled these shows for no other reason than ratings. The only reason these shows got canceled is that no one knew about them in the first place, thanks to Warner Bros.’ marketing team.
It’s a shame to see a former animation company just give up on properties. There are still audiences that would love to see these characters again on the big screen. With the way things are now, Warner Bros.’ might just sell off the properties that once made them giants in the industry to other companies like Ketchup Entertainment or Netflix. Either way, we might see the end of an era and the beginning of something new.
If things change, maybe Warner Bros. will see its mistake and revisit these franchises and give them another chance in the spotlight.
