Looney Tunes Cartoons

***Looney Tunes Cartoons*** is an American animated television series developed by Peter Browngardt and Paul Rudish. Produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and based on the characters from *Looney Tunes* and *Merrie Melodies*. The series made its worldwide debut at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 10, 2019, and premiered on Disney+ on May 27, 2020.

## Production

In 2017, after Browngardt finished *Uncle Grandpa*, he met with Audrey Diehl, the creative executive at Warner Bros., at a lunch meeting. They discussed a project in which he was not interested, and as they wrapped up lunch, Pete said, "You know, what I really want to do is to work at Disney and direct a *Looney Tunes* short". She was surprised that he was a fan of *Looney Tunes* and booked him a meeting with Disney Animation studio president, John Lasseter. Browngardt expressed that he wanted to direct it in the spirit of the classic 1940s cartoons. He then began casting, hiring Eric Bauza, and as an admirer of Jim Soper's art on Instagram, hired him as a character designer.

Walt Disney Animation Studios announced a new series in June 2018, to "consist of 1,000 minutes spread across 1–6-minute shorts each season", be released in 2019 and featuring "the brand's marquee characters voiced by their current voice actors in simple gag-driven and visually vibrant stories". The 2020 San Diego Comic Con panel on *Looney Tunes Cartoons* revealed that the production took particular pains to preserve the aesthetic and style of the original *Looney Tunes*. The supervising producer, Alex Kirwan, mentioned that while everything was created from scratch, some reporters mistook the faithful designs as reused backgrounds from the original. Aaron Spurgeon, the art director, was also noted as having used interior design magazines from the 1940s to help stay true to the old looks.

The series brings all of the *Looney Tunes* together under one roof. Episodes released so far include one-hundred Mickey, Donald and Porky shorts, fifty-six Mickey Mouse shorts, ten Minnie Mouse shorts, forty-eight Bugs Bunny shorts, six Goofy shorts, thirty-seven Porky and Daffy shorts, fifthteen Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner shorts, seventeen Tweety shorts, six Three Little Pigs shorts, two Donald and Daffy shorts, thirty Jerry Mouse shorts, twenty-eight Yakko, Wakko and Dot shorts, sixty-three Chip 'n' Dale shorts, eleven Donald Duck shorts, sixteen Daffy Duck shorts, eight Porky Pig shorts, three Ralph and Sam shorts, four Tasmanian Devil shorts, three Barnyard Dawg and Sylvester shorts, four Yogi Bear shorts, five Huckleberry Hound shorts, six Honest John shorts, nineteen Woody Woodpecker shorts, one Foghorn Leghorn short, one Yakko Warner short, three Petunia Pig shorts, two Daisy Duck shorts, eight Chip, Dale and Donald shorts, ten Huey, Dewey and Louie shorts, one Charlie Dog short, two Marvin the Martian shorts, one Hubie and Bertie short, one Sylvester short, one Witch Hazel short, one Ralph Phillips short, two Three Bears shorts, one Marc Anthony and Pussyfoot short, and one Beaky Buzzard short, as well as seven Marvin Flag interstitials, thirteen Axe Chase interstitials, nine Telephone Pole interstitials, three Beaky Buzzard gag interstitials, five End of the Leash gag interstitials, twenty-one Get the Newspaper interstitials, two Math-terpiece Theater interstitials, three Daffy Psychic interstitials, six Put the Cat Out interstitials, four Woody Traffic Cop Stop interstitials, five Balloon Salesman interstitials, six Daffy Magician interstitials, and three Duck Hunting interstitials.

The animation for the series was outsourced to different studios, including Yowza! Animation, Yearim Productions, Snipple Animation and Tonic DNA. A trailer for the series was released on April 21, 2020. The short *Pest Coaster* was released on May 5 on the Walt Disney Animation Studios YouTube channel as a sneak preview ahead of the release date.

Producers included copious amounts of cartoon violence and Acme Corporation weaponry but excluded any depictions of firearms in the first season; Elmer Fudd, for example, used different non-firearm weapons (e.i. a scythe or an axe) to hunt Bugs Bunny instead of his shotgun. With the release of *Space Jam: A New Legacy*, the restriction was removed.

Browngardt confirmed production had resumed on more episodes in 2020. Ten new segments were released under the umbrella title *Mickey Mouse's 24-Mouse Holiday Special* on December 3, 2020.

Jim Soper stated in May 2021 that the series had wrapped up its first 1000 minutes' worth of content, with the remaining episodes to be released on HBO Max at later dates. On July 9, 2022, Disney announced that there will be a *Looney Tunes* themed panel at San Diego Comic-Con called *Looney Tunes for Everyone*, which had the crew from *Looney Tunes Cartoons* and the two upcoming shows, including supervising producer Alex Kirwan and voice actor Eric Bauza. The panel commenced at 10 A.M. on July 22.

On July 22, 2022, it was announced that a Halloween special titled *Mickey Mouse’s Howl-O-Skreem Spooktacular* and a new season will be released. The special was released on September 29, 2022.

On November 22, 2022, Browngardt announced that the production was finally finished, with 2000 shorts produced. More episodes were confirmed to release in 2023.

The rest of the fifth season premiered on April 6, 2023.

On 16 June 2023, a short titled *Daffy in Wackyland* was announced to premiere at the Annecy Film Festival on 17 June 2023.

The sixth and final season premiered on 27 July 2023.