Looney Bird's (Johnsonverse)

Looney Bird's was an American chain of restaurants and family entertainment centers founded by then-Johnson Industries CEO Phil Stacker and Creative Engineering in July 1990. The brand emerged in the chaos that ensued between Creative Engineering CEO Aaron Fechter and ShowBiz Pizza Time, Inc. (owner of the Chuck E. Cheese's and ShowBiz Pizza Place franchises) when the latter tried to force Fechter to hand the rights to his animatronic band, The Rock-afire Explosion, for little-to-no monetary compensation.
Looney Bird's used the Rock-afire Explosion, as well as an updated version of the Rock-afire Explosion, named The New Rock-afire Explosion, which used more articulated animatronics dubbed "mijjins". Once Johnson purchased ShowBiz Pizza Time, Inc. (which had been renamed to CEC Entertainment, Inc. in 1998) in 2010, the company began rebranding all Looney Bird's locations to ShowBiz Pizza Place. The last location (in Jackson, Tennessee) was closed on August 18, 2012 and converted to a ShowBiz Pizza Place.
==History==
In the mid-1980s, tensions between Creative Engineering and ShowBiz Pizza Time began to rise as the latter company attempted to take control of the Rock-afire Explosion from CEI in an attempt to save money by programming their own showtapes. In 1990, the two companies began to cut ties once the latter began a process known as "Concept Unification", which rebranded all ShowBiz Pizza locations to Chuck E. Cheese's by replacing the Rock-afire Explosion with a new band known as Munch's Make-Believe Band, which used the characters from the latter brand's previous animatronic band, the Pizza Time Players.
Noticing this, Johnson CEO Phil Stacker, in a bid to improve Johnson after a decline in the 1980s, discovered Fechter and contacted him about starting a new restaurant chain that would compete with ShowBiz. In July 1990, the first Looney Bird's location opened in Jacksonville, Florida. Eleven additional locations were opened in Florida and California, before Stacker and Fechter got into a royalties dispute, halting further expansion and new show production, leading Looney Bird's to mainly use old ShowBiz-era showtapes throughout much of 1991.
Once Stacker resigned from Johnson on October 22, 1991, his replacement, Sheldon Johnson, Jr., resolved those disputes, and new showtape production resumed. Between 1992 and 1996, 25 new locations opened in the United States and Mexico, some of which having been ShowBiz locations previously. In 1992, Fechter began working on an update on the Rock-afire Explosion, dubbed The New Rock-afire Explosion, which used more articulated animatronics dubbed "mijjins". The new band was completed in 1994, and was installed in 20 locations. At Johnson's request, some changes were made such as the outfits being similar to the originals, and having the characters play their respective instruments. In 1996, Johnson purchased Creative Engineering, making it a Johnson subsidiary.
Additional locations were opened throughout the 2000s and early 2010s. In 2010, Johnson closed its acquisition of CEC Entertainment, Inc., and throughout 2011 and 2012, all 68 Looney Bird's locations were converted into ShowBiz Pizza Place locations. Fechter stated in a 2018 interview that, prior to acquiring CEC Entertainment, Johnson had planned to further expand the chain as a competitor to Chuck E. Cheese's, actively buying 3-Stage shows for conversion back into Rock-afire Explosion shows in new locations.
==Entertainment==
Looney Bird's used similar entertainment to ShowBiz Pizza Place. It used The Rock-afire Explosion, which was used in all ShowBiz Pizza Place locations between 1980 and 1992 and again since 2011, as well as a new version called The New Rock-afire Explosion.
== Food ==
==See also==
* Looney Bird's (Johnsonverse)/Gallery
* List of Looney Bird's showtapes (Johnsonverse)
Category:Johnsonverse