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Tag: Coyote Vs. Acme

  • The Looney Tunes are Killing It Over on Tubi

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    This past August, Warner Bros. Discovery punted nearly 800 Looney Tunes shorts—with nearly 200 locked away due to “cultural sensitivities“—over to free streaming service Tubi. What seemed like an insult to one of the most well-known cartoon properties has, funnily enough, been a blessing in disguise.

    According to a recent Vulture report, Tubi’s acquisition head Samuel Harowitz called the Tunes “a huge win for us.” In terms of total viewing time, it’s in the Top 10 best-performing series and very popular across generations and demographics. Much of this is in part due to how popular older animation like Looney Tunes is: Tom & Jerry, The Flinstones, and the 1996 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series are also on Tubi, and Harowitz called those classic cartoons “one of the biggest fandoms we serve on the platform.”

    If Tubi has its way, the Looney Tunes aren’t going anywhere. The company is in “active negotiations” with WBD to ensure it can keep the cartoons there “for quite a while, likely years.” It’s also open to licensing new Looney content or becoming the streaming home for Coyote vs. Acme, but there’s no conversations about either yet. As is, the episodes on Tubi are in non-chronological order with ads playing only in between shorts, which is a bummer, but at least they look quite good in HD.

    You can thank animation historian Jerry Beck for that, whose restorations were also used for the physical releases. These restored versions “look day-one brand new, as the Looney Tunes should,” he told Vulture. In addition to “taking delight” when people notice the restorations, he’s just glad Tubi’s doing right by the Tunes. “I’m kind of glad [WBD] took them off HBO Max and allowed other networks to use them so we can all see them.”

    Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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    Justin Carter

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  • Porky and Daffy Pull Fast One in Looney Tunes Movie ‘The Day the Earth Blew Up’ Sneak Peek (Exclusive)

    Porky and Daffy Pull Fast One in Looney Tunes Movie ‘The Day the Earth Blew Up’ Sneak Peek (Exclusive)

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    Porky Pig and Daffy Duck probably won’t be heading for a career in real estate, as seen in a new preview clip from the forthcoming theatrical release The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie.

    Director Pete Browngardt’s sci-fi comedy from Warner Bros. Animation is set to hit theaters domestically later this year but does not yet have an announced release date. The project focuses on Porky and Daffy (both voiced by Eric Bauza) learning that aliens are plotting to overtake the planet, which leads the pair to put their differences aside and help save the world.

    The sequence shows the Looney Tunes mainstays cutting countless corners while attempting to prepare their home ahead of an inspection. “Well, Porky, we’re all finished,” Daffy says triumphantly. “Here’s to passing this inspection and living another year just the way we like it.”

    This leads a conflicted Porky to hesitantly respond, “Yeah, just the way we like it.”

    Toward the end of the clip, Daffy attempts to assuage Porky as the inspector arrives. “Don’t worry, chum,” Daffy says. “I’ll handle thus middle-aged busybody.”

    The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie is set to premiere Tuesday at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Bonnie Arnold and David Kirschner serve as producers on the film that marks the first fully animated Looney Tunes feature to debut with a theatrical run.

    The film’s release follows Warner Bros.’ decision not to release Coyote vs. Acme, a hybrid of live-action and CG animation centering on Looney Tunes favorite Wile E. Coyote and starring John Cena and Will Forte. The Hollywood Reporter reported late last year that Warner Bros. planned to shelve the movie for a tax write-off.

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    Ryan Gajewski

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  • Congressman Slams Warner Bros. for Canceling ‘Coyote vs. Acme,’ Calls for Federal Investigation

    Congressman Slams Warner Bros. for Canceling ‘Coyote vs. Acme,’ Calls for Federal Investigation

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    A congressman is calling for a federal investigation of Warner Bros. for its handling of Coyote vs. Acme.

    Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro took to X to blast the studio for its original plan to shelve the movie for a tax break.

    “The WBD tactic of scrapping fully made films for tax breaks is predatory and anti-competitive,” the San Antonio Democrat wrote. “As the Justice Department and revise their antitrust guidelines they should review this conduct. As someone remarked, it’s like burning down a building for the insurance money.”

    Warners has since reversed its decision amid industry backlash and decided to try and shop the film to other studios and streamers. But the studio previously went through with shelving movies for tax write-offs last year with the movies Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt.

    Castro has been vocal on antitrust issues in media and entertainment. In April, he called on the competition enforcers to reassess Discovery’s merger with AT&T’s WarnerMedia. This followed 30 members of Congress warning that the resulting competition vacuum would harm workers and consumers, as well as reduce diverse programming — which became a common criticism after the company canned its $90 million HBO Max film Batgirl, the first DC movie led by a Latina, for the tax write-off.

    In a letter to the Justice Department, Castro previously wrote that the deal enabled Warner Bros. Discovery to “adopt potentially anticompetitive practices,” including “product cancellations.”

    “The damage to content creators whose projects are cancelled in deep development and post-production cannot be overstated,’ stated the April 7 letter. “Such cancellations stain these projects, making them less appealing and marketable to other buyers — consumers will likely never be able to watch shows purchased then cancelled by WBD. WBD’s conduct amounts to a de facto ‘catch and kill’ practice, vastly limiting consumer choice.”

    Under current merger guidelines, a consideration of whether a deal is approved is if it will incentivize a company to “withdraw a product that a significant number of customers strongly prefer.” Castro, in his comments over the shelving of Coyote vs. Acme, could be alluding to the absence of competition in Hollywood that allows WBD to make unpopular moves without harm to its bottom line.

    The call for an investigation is the latest twist in the almost cartoon-like saga of the live-action/animation hybrid Coyote vs. Acme, which went from just another title on Warners’ slate to the most talked-about movie in Hollywood thanks to the studio’s initial effort to scrap the project.

    Unlike Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt, however, Coyote vs. Acme is entirely finished, and had a successful audience screening where its test scores were in the 90s. Supporters of the project applied pressure to the studio to change last week’s decision, with some creatives even canceling meetings with the company in protest. “I don’t know how you see the movie and then go, ‘That couldn’t happen to me,’” No One Will Save You filmmaker Brian Duffield previously told THR.

    Now the studio will now allow director Dave Green to shop the project, though it’s not yet clear what price Warner Bros. will set for the title given its potential value as a tax write off that would help offset the movie’s $70 million budget.

    Coyote vs. Acme follows the speechless and hapless Wile E. Coyote as he teams up with a lawyer (Will Forte) to fight the ACME corporation. Just like in the cartoons, Coyote buys ACME devices to try and kill Road Runner, but they never work properly, causing him to embark on a quest to take down the company instead.

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    James Hibberd

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