Foxtoons

***Foxtoons*** is an American series of animated comedy short films produced by 20th Century Fox from April 11th, 1942 until May 10th, 1969.

*Foxtoons* has since eventually evolved into a media franchise, spawning several television series, feature films, comic books, music albums, video games and amusement park rides.

In 1990, 20th Century Fox launched a series of new shorts, airing on Fox from April 11th, 1992 until December 17th, 1999 and again since February 6th, 2018, with those shorts now airing on Disney Channel since April 14th, 2019.

## History

### 1990s: revival era

In 1990, following the unexpected success of *The Simpsons*, 20th Century Fox announced its interest to revive its animation department by bringing back the *Foxtoons* series as new shorts, although this time premiering on television through its own Fox network. Other factors that consolidated its move was Fox's desire to compete with the slowly-growing Nickelodeon as well as the revitalized Disney and Warner Bros.' animation departments, aside from Hanna-Barbera, then recently acquired by Turner.

*Under construction...*

### 2000s: *Foxtoons* in modern age

On October 24th, 2001, News Corporation sold Fox Family Worldwide to The Walt Disney Company for $2.9 billion cash plus $2.3 billion in debt assumption, which gave Disney control of the Fox Family channel (which, owing to its new ownership, was renamed ABC Family, and its parent company renamed ABC Family Worldwide), the Saban Entertainment library, the Fox Kids brand name and its Fox Children's Productions library of shows, including its international networks in Latin America and Europe.

However, *Foxtoons* wasn't included in the sale as its trademarks were reverted back to 20th Century Fox since the studio wanted to keep investing on the franchise with new projects. Given the fact Fox was likely to shut down its Fox Kids block after the sale, Disney Channel, Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon expressed their interest on housing a new *Foxtoons* series, with the Viacom-owned channel's proposal being greenlit due to the other channels being owned by companies that produced their rival cartoons.

*Under construction...*

## In other media

### Television series

* *The Foxtoons Show* (ABC, 1972-1976)
* *Thimble and Nigel, Adventure Cadets* (Fox, 1996-1999)
* *M.J. Fox, Kung Fu Master* (Fox, 2003-2007)
* *Maddie's Teenage Spy Life* (Fox, 2009-2013)
* *Brand New Foxtoons* (Fox/Disney Channel/Disney+, 2017-present)
* *Snake and Peacock's Academy* (Fox/Disney Channel/Disney+, 2020-present)

### Web series

* *Foxtoon Webtoons* (YouTube, 2009-2011)

### Films

* *Foxtoons: The First Ever Cartoony Movie!* (1975)
* *M.J. Fox and the Great Worldwide Quest: A Foxtoons Movie* (1997)
* *The Foxtoons Musical Rhapsody* (2001)

### Video games

* *Sgt. Snake and Pvt. Peacock: The Great Adventure* (1999)
* *Hurricane Micah Strikes Back* (2017)
* *Sgt. Snake and Pvt. Peacock: Great Adventure Recoiled* (2019)

## Trivia

* While not as popular as now-parent company Disney's *Mickey Mouse*/*Silly Symphonies* or Warner Bros.' *Looney Tunes*/*Merrie Melodies*, *Foxtoons* still is considered pretty popular.
* Unlike the tamer *Mickey Mouse*/*Silly Symphonies* and more in line with *Looney Tunes*/*Merrie Melodies*, Universal's *Woody Woodpecker* and Hanna-Barbera's *Tom and Jerry*, most of its shorts are notable for featuring a zanier, darker and sadistic style of humor.
* M.J. Fox is officially 20th Century Fox's mascot, although some fans think that position currently belongs to Homer Simpson.
* Despite 20th Century Fox's acquisition by Disney in 2019, the company has confirmed that the franchise will not be merged with the *Mickey Mouse* series due to the fact they have different origins and it wouldn't make much sense if two former rival franchises became a single one nowadays.
	+ Despite that, Disney will now assume the distribution rights for the franchise, although newer media will still be produced under the 20th Century Fox (now 20th Century Studios) and 20th Century Fox Television (now 20th Television) labels.
* Despite 20th Century Fox being renamed 20th Century Studios in January 2020, Disney confirmed the *Foxtoons* name would be kept, although no longer alluding to the studio but to M.J. Fox himself instead.