For 95 years, Looney Tunes has been entertaining audiences young and old. Beginning in 1930 under the Merrie Melodies banner, the first short “Sinkin’ In The Bathtub” didn’t feature any of the iconic Looney Tunes characters that viewers would grow to love. Later shorts would prove more memorable, bringing to life a varied collection of colorful characters, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and the Wile E. Coyote. The Looney Tunes films would be shown before major motion pictures, as an entertaining prelude to the main feature. These Looney Tunes shorts are often heralded as some of the most magnificent animated releases around. Perhaps the most notable is “Rabbit Fire,” which involves Bugs and Daffy leaving Elmer Fudd confused about whether it is duck or rabbit hunting season. “Duck Dodgers In The 24 1/2th Century” has developed a significant fan following, showing Daffy Duck taking on the mantle of the noble space hero Duck Dodgers, who is searching for the mysterious Planet X and engages in a fierce battle with Marvin The Martian. The legendary Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner cartoons began on September 17, 1949, with the brilliantly titled “Fast And Furryous.”

The Looney Tunes characters are Warner Bros.’ mascots, representing the movie studio during its most golden years. However, Warner Bros. has not shown the franchise much love in recent years. On March 17th, it was confirmed via Deadline that the original Looney Tunes short films had been removed from Max. The decision came as part of Warner. Bros’ new direction for their streaming service, to focus on “adult and family programming.” Curiously, Looney Tunes fell under the “children’s” section of Max, even though the original shorts were family-orientated productions as opposed to exclusively for a young demographic. This controversial move by Warner Bros. is reflective of the studio’s short-sighted perspective of Looney Tunes, which has one of the most gigantic fan bases in animation and represents their general disdain for the cartoons that made Warner Bros. a major cinematic player.

The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie Is A Casualty Of Warner Bros.’ Move Away From Looney Tunes

One of the most notorious casualties of Warner Bros.’ move away from Looney Tunes content is The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie. Officially announced in 2021 to debut on Max and Cartoon Network, it would represent the first feature-length 2D animated Looney Tunes film. The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie follows foster siblings Daffy Duck and Porky Pig, who discover a secret plot by an alien menace to turn the population into zombies at the bubble gum factory. Bearing a typically eccentric narrative and a lively cast of cartoon individuals, The Day The Earth Blew Up is trademark Looney Tunes. Unfortunately in August 2022, Warner Bros. dropped their plans to release the finished production and attempted to sell the rights to various streaming services.

The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie was nearly lost forever until it was picked up by GFM Animation and Ketchup Entertainment. The film’s theatrical release began on March 14, 2025, in the U.S., having already completed a cinematic run in Germany and Switzerland on August 1, 2024. GFM Animation and Ketchup Entertainment are much smaller companies than Warner. Bros, and this means they don’t have the same money or resources to give The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie the fanfare that a Looney Tunes film deserves. Its marketing, both globally and in the U.S., has been minimal, and there are still many major markets that The Day The Earth Blew Up has yet to open in, including the United Kingdom and Japan. Its global reach would likely have been much wider had Warner Bros. continued to handle its distribution.

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Its poor advertising has also resulted in a much lower Box Office than would typically be expected from a Looney Tunes picture. During its first weekend of release in the United States, The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie grossed a measly $3.2 million. Its numbers were still enough to secure a fifth-place position at the Box Office, but it is still considerably lower than expected for an entry in a major motion picture franchise. In comparison, Space Jam 2: A New Legacy’s opening weekend in 2021 achieved $31.6m in the U.S., which was impressive for a movie released during the pandemic, especially considering that it was competing against an MCU movie, Black Widow. The fact that Space Jam 2: A New Legacy performed better is disappointing for Looney Tunes fans. While the Space Jam movies have achieved an enormous following, they don’t feel like Looney Tunes movies, focusing on the animated heroes and villains competing in basketball games rather than partaking in whacky hijinks. The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, on the other hand, is extremely faithful to Looney Tunes. It not only maintains its signature 2D animated style, but also chooses to feature Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and Petunia Pig’s current voice actors Eric Bauza and Candi Milo rather than recasting Looney Tunes’ roster with celebrity names, and its storyline evokes the quirky plots that Looney Tunes is known for.

Coyote VS ACME Will Never See The Light Of Day

While The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie was eventually released to the public, Coyote VS ACME will likely never see the light of day. Based on the 1990 New Yorker newspaper comic strip “Coyote vs. ACME” by Ian Frazier, Coyote VS ACME would have seen the Wile E. Coyote take the ACME Corporation to court for their countless gadgets that have backfired during his hunt for the Road Runner. The movie was to adopt a similar CGI animation and live-action hybrid approach to Looney Tunes: Back In Action, with Looney Tunes individuals interacting with human actors. Many moviegoers were hyped for Coyote VS ACME’s release, which was due to hit theaters on July 21, 2023, before it was replaced with Barbie. Warner Bros. would later confirm their intentions to write off the film for a $30 million tax write-off.

Although it’s doubtful that the film would have been as successful as Barbie, there are many reasons why Coyote VS ACME deserves to be released. The cast and crew worked tirelessly to bring the film to life, which was shot for three months in New Mexico between March and May 2022. The notion that their hard work may never be released must be incredibly demoralizing for the creative talent involved in Coyote VS ACME’s production, and it deserves to be appreciated by viewers worldwide. It also holds some important sentimental value for one of its actors, Steven Ray Byrd. Tragically, his mother and son passed away before Coyote VS ACME had finished its production cycle. His loved ones were major fans of Coyote VS ACME star John Cena, and would have been immensely proud to have seen their beloved family member starring alongside the man who they idolized. Releasing Coyote VS ACME would have been an excellent way to honor their memory, and to give Steven Ray Byrd closure for one of the hardest periods of his life.

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Most baffling regarding Coyote VS ACME’s axing is how it features some of the biggest talent in Hollywood. The motion picture was produced by Guardians Of The Galaxy director James Gunn and included Peacemaker star John Cena as its main antagonist, a lawyer representing the ACME Corporation. Both James Gunn and John Cena possess some of the biggest fan bases in the movie industry, and many of these fans would have flocked to theaters to see their latest work. James Gunn, particularly, has a strong track record, impressing most recently with The Suicide Squad and Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume 3. Meanwhile, John Cena’s hilarious performance as Christopher Smith, otherwise known as the Peacemaker, has turned a D-list DC supervillain into a major comic book name.

A Coyote VS ACME release may seem unlikely, but there is still some hope for the Looney Tunes franchise. One fan was spotted campaigning for Coyote VS ACME’s worldwide distribution outside Warner Bros. Studios, dressed as Wile E. Coyote. Others have been very vocal about their dislike of the classic cartoons being removed from Max, urging the decision to be debated within the U.S. government. If fans continue to make their voices heard, Warner Bros. may recognize the value of the Looney Tunes series, and give the famous cartoon saga the respect that it rightfully deserves.

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