• Hugh Harman • Rudolf Ising •
Leon Schlesinger •
Edward Selzer •
John W. Burton •
David H. DePatie •
Friz Freleng •
William L. Hendricks}} •
Warren Foster •
Tedd Pierce •
Michael Maltese •
(more)}} •
Mel Blanc •
June Foray •
Arthur Q. Bryan •
Bea Benaderet •
Stan Freberg •
(more)}} •
Carl W. Stalling •
Milt Franklyn •
William Lava •
(more)}} •
Ken Harris •
Warren Batchelder •
Rod Scribner •
Abe Levitow •
Gerry Chiniquy •
Izzy Ellis •
Virgil Ross •
Ben Washam •
Bill Melendez •
Phil Monroe •
Manny Gould •
Richard Thompson •
Norman McCabe •
(more)}} •
Maurice Noble •
Hawley Pratt •
Robert Gribbroek •
(more)}} •
Paul Julian •
Pete Alvarado • Philip DeGuard •
(more)}} •
Harman-Ising Productions (1930–1933) • Leon Schlesinger Productions (1933–1944) •
Warner Bros. Cartoons (1944–1964) •
DePatie–Freleng Enterprises (1964–1967) •
Format Productions (1965–1967) •
Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Animation (1967–1969) •
Warner Bros. Animation}} (1987–2014) •
Warner Bros. Pictures •
The Vitaphone Corporation •
Vitagraph Company of America }} •
B&W (1930–1943) •
Technicolor (1942–2014) •
Cinecolor (1947-1948)}} }}
Looney Tunes and
Merrie Melodies were so named as a reference to Disney's
Silly Symphonies and were initially developed to showcase tracks from Warner Bros.' extensive music library; the title of the first
Looney Tunes short, ''
Sinkin' in the Bathtub (1930), is a pun on Singin' in the Bathtub. Between 1934 and 1943, Merrie Melodies
were produced in color and Looney Tunes
in black-and-white. and Tweety in the Merrie Melodies
short A Tale of Two Kitties'' (1942). Bugs initially starred in the color
Merrie Melodies shorts following the success of 1940's
A Wild Hare, and formally joined the
Looney Tunes series with the release of
Buckaroo Bugs in 1944. Schlesinger began to phase in the production of color
Looney Tunes with the 1942 cartoon
The Hep Cat. The final black-and-white
Looney Tunes short was ''
Puss n' Booty'' in 1943, directed by
Frank Tashlin. The inspiration for the changeover was Warner's decision to re-release only the color cartoons in the
Blue Ribbon Classics series of
Merrie Melodies. A brief cameo at the end of Tashlin's 1943 cartoon ''
Porky Pig's Feat'' would be Bugs' only official appearance in a black-and-white
Looney Tunes short. Schlesinger sold the cartoon studio in 1944 to Warner Bros. and went into retirement; he died five years later.
1944–1964: The Golden era More popular
Looney Tunes characters were created (most of which first appeared in
Merrie Melodies cartoons), such as
Pepé Le Pew (debuted in 1945's
Odor-able Kitty),
Sylvester (debuted in 1945's
Life with Feathers),
Yosemite Sam (debuted in 1945's
Hare Trigger),
Foghorn Leghorn (debuted in 1946's
Walky Talky Hawky),
Marvin the Martian (debuted in 1948's
Haredevil Hare),
Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner (debuted in 1949's
Fast and Furry-ous),
Granny (debuted in 1950's
Canary Row),
Speedy Gonzales (debuted in 1953's
Cat Tails for Two),
the Tasmanian Devil (debuted in 1954's
Devil May Hare), and
Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog (debuted in 1953's ''
Don't Give Up the Sheep''). It was during this era that the series won five
Academy Awards: •
Tweetie Pie (1947) •
For Scent-imental Reasons (1949) •
Speedy Gonzales (1955) •
Birds Anonymous (1957) •
Knighty Knight Bugs (1958)
1964–1969: DePatie–Freleng and Seven Arts era During the mid-late 1960s, the shorts were produced by
DePatie–Freleng Enterprises (and
Format Productions) (1964–1967) and
Warner Bros.-Seven Arts (1967–1969) after Warner Bros. shut down their animation studio. The shorts from this era can be identified by their different title sequence, featuring stylized
limited animation and graphics on a black background and a new arrangement, by
William Lava, of "
The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" which had first been used in the 1963 experimental short "
Now Hear This" directed by Chuck Jones. In 1967, Warner Bros.-Seven Arts commissioned an animation studio in
South Korea to redraw 79 black-and-white Looney Tunes produced from 1935 to 1943 in color which were syndicated to TV stations from the late 1960s to the early 1990s. The original
Looney Tunes theatrical series ran from 1930's ''Sinkin' in the Bathtub'' to 1969's
Injun Trouble by
Robert McKimson. A
Cool Cat cartoon called "Stage Cat" was planned, about Cool Cat being in a stage production, but it was cancelled when Warner Bros.-Seven Arts shut down. To date,
Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon is the longest-airing
animated series on the network that was not a
Nicktoon. In 1991, the Looney Tunes characters made their appearance at
Warner Bros. Movie World on the
Gold Coast in
Australia. It marked the launch of "Looney Tunes Land," the park's inaugural themed area. In 1996,
Space Jam, a
live-action animated film, was released to theaters starring Bugs Bunny and basketball player
Michael Jordan. Despite a mixed critical reception, the film was a major box-office success, grossing nearly $100 million in the U.S. alone, almost becoming the first non-Disney animated film to achieve that feat. For a two-year period, it was the highest grossing non-Disney animated film ever. The film also introduced the character
Lola Bunny, who subsequently became another recurring member of the
Looney Tunes cast, usually as a love interest for Bugs. In 1997, Bugs Bunny was featured on a U.S. 32 cent postage stamp, the first of five
Looney Tunes themed stamps to be issued. The
Looney Tunes also achieved success in the area of television during this era, with appearances in several originally produced series, including
Taz-Mania (1991, starring Taz) and
The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries (1995, starring Sylvester, Tweety, and Granny). The gang also made frequent cameos in the 1990 spinoff series
Tiny Toon Adventures, from executive producer
Steven Spielberg, where they played teachers and mentors to a younger generation of cartoon characters (
Plucky Duck,
Hamton J. Pig,
Babs and Buster Bunny, etc.), plus occasional cameos in the later Warner Bros. shows such as
Animaniacs (also from Spielberg) and
Histeria!.
Traditional cel animation was used to animate the characters for
Looney Tunes' cartoons until 1999 when it was replaced with
digital ink and paint animation. In 1979, ''
Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carol premiered. After The Chocolate Chase, there would not be another short released for seven years. In 1990, it was made so there would be about one short per year until 1998. In 2003, there would be seven shorts produced to promote Looney Tunes: Back in Action. The first of these to be released was Whizzard of Ow, which appeared on a DVD release of Back in Action'' that was sold exclusively at
Wal-Mart stores. Only about half of the shorts were shown in theaters; the rest would not be made available until 2004, when all seven shorts were included on the general home video release of the film. In 2010, five computer-animated shorts would be released and directed by
Matthew O'Callaghan, who would also direct another short,
Flash in the Pain, in 2014.
2000–2014: Network exploration In March 2000, it was revealed that the entire
Looney Tunes and
Merrie Melodies library would be exclusive to Cartoon Network, starting with the fall of that year.
Looney Tunes shorts were still airing on Disney's
ABC as part of
The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show at the time and the decision led to the show's cancellation. This decision would remain in effect for over 20 years until
MeTV began airing the classic Warner Bros. cartoons (along with MGM and Paramount's library) in January 2021. In 2003, another feature film was released, this time in an attempt to recapture the spirit of the original shorts: the live-action/animated
Looney Tunes: Back in Action. Although the film was not financially successful, it was met with mixed-to-positive reviews from film critics and has been argued by animation historians and fans as the finest original feature-length appearance of the cartoon characters. In 2006,
Warner Home Video released a new and Christmas-themed
Looney Tunes direct-to-video film called
Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas, a parody of
Charles Dickens'
A Christmas Carol. Other
Looney Tunes TV series made during this time were
Baby Looney Tunes (2001–2006),
Duck Dodgers (2003–2005) and
Loonatics Unleashed (2005–2007). On October 22, 2007,
Looney Tunes and
Merrie Melodies cartoons became available for the first time in
High-definition via
Microsoft's
Xbox Live service, including some in Spanish. From February 29 – May 18, 2008, many
Looney Tunes artifacts, including original animation cels and concept drawings, were on display at the
Butler Institute of American Art in
Youngstown, Ohio, just off the campus of
Youngstown State University, near where the Warners lived early in life. At the 2009 Cartoon Network
upfront,
The Looney Tunes Show was announced. After several delays, the series premiered on May 3, 2011. Produced by
Warner Bros. Animation, the series centers on Bugs and Daffy as they leave the woods and move to the suburbs with "colorful neighbors" including Sylvester, Tweety, Granny, Yosemite Sam, etc. The series introduced the character
Tina Russo, a duck who becomes Daffy's girlfriend. The show also features 2-minute music videos titled respectfully "Merrie Melodies" (as a tribute to the
Looney Tunes sister shorts) which features the characters singing original songs, as well as CGI animated shorts starring Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner (which were removed after the first season). The series was cancelled after its second season. Also, Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner returned to the big screen in a series of 3-D shorts that preceded select Warner Bros. films. There were six in the works that began with the first short,
Coyote Falls, that preceded the film
Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, which was released on July 30, 2010. On September 24, 2010,
Fur of Flying preceded the film, ''
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, and on December 17, 2010, Rabid Rider preceded the film, Yogi Bear. On June 8, 2011, Warner Bros. Animation announced that there would be more Looney Tunes
3-D theatrical shorts; the first titled Daffy's Rhapsody with Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd, the next being I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat with Sylvester, Tweety, and Granny. Daffy's Rhapsody
was to precede the film Happy Feet Two, until the studio decided to premiere I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat
instead. Daffy's Rhapsody
instead premiered in 2012, preceding Journey 2: The Mysterious Island''. All five shorts were directed by Matthew O'Callaghan. In 2012, several announcements were made about a
Looney Tunes reboot film titled
Acme, in development. Former
Saturday Night Live cast member
Jenny Slate was said to be on board as writer for the new film. Jeffrey Clifford,
Harry Potter producer
David Heyman, and
Dark Shadows writers David Katzenberg and
Seth Grahame-Smith were slated to produce the film. On August 27, 2014, writers
Ashley Miller and
Zack Stentz were hired to script the film, directors
Glenn Ficarra and John Requa were in talks to direct the film, while actor
Steve Carell was rumored to be starring in a lead role. By October 2014, the project was no longer in the works.
2015–2022: Revival At the 2014 Cartoon Network
upfront, another series titled
Wabbit: A Looney Tunes Production (later
New Looney Tunes) was announced. Starring Bugs Bunny, the series premiered on both Cartoon Network and its sister channel
Boomerang in late 2015. The series had an unusually slow rollout, with the series being moved to the Boomerang streaming service in 2017, and was eventually cancelled on January 30, 2020. On June 11, 2018, another series, titled
Looney Tunes Cartoons, was announced by Warner Bros. Animation. It premiered on May 27, 2020, on the streaming service
HBO Max. The series features "1,000 minutes of new one-to-six minute cartoons featuring the brand's marquee characters", voiced by their current voice actors in "simple, gag-driven and visually vibrant stories" that are rendered by multiple artists employing "a visual style that will resonate with fans", most noticeably having a style reminiscent of the styles of
Tex Avery,
Bob Clampett,
Chuck Jones,
Friz Freleng and
Robert McKimson.
Sam Register, president of Warner Bros. Animation also served as a co-executive producer for the series. The final season was released on July 27, 2023, and a bonus episode was released on June 13, 2024. On February 11, 2021, it was announced two new series were in the works:
Bugs Bunny Builders and
Tweety Mysteries.
Bugs Bunny Builders began airing on Cartoon Network as part of
Cartoonito and HBO Max on July 25, 2022;
Tweety Mysteries would also air on
Cartoon Network.
Bugs Bunny Builders is aimed towards preschoolers; while
Tweety Mysteries would have been a live-action/animated hybrid. However, the latter was scrapped for unknown reasons. A sequel to
Space Jam titled
Space Jam: A New Legacy, starring basketball player
LeBron James, was released in theaters and HBO Max on July 16, 2021, after a
Los Angeles special screening on July 12, 2021. It is a film with a story of LeBron James' second son, Dom (Cedric Joe), who gets kidnapped by an evil
AI named Al. G Rhythm (
Don Cheadle), into the Warner Bros. server-verse. LeBron then assembles the Tune Squad to play against the algorithm and get his son back. It received generally negative reviews and underperformed at the box office.
2022–present: Warner Bros. Discovery ownership A reboot of
Tiny Toon Adventures titled
Tiny Toons Looniversity premiered on September 8, 2023, on
Max and then aired the following day on Cartoon Network. The Looney Tunes characters reprise their roles as the professors at Acme Looniversity in this series. In September 2021, it was reported that a film based on the
Looney Tunes Cartoons, titled
The Day the Earth Blew Up and starring
Daffy Duck and
Porky Pig, was announced for release on HBO Max and Cartoon Network. However, it was reported in August 2022 that the film would instead be shopped around to other streaming services. In October 2023, it was announced the film would instead be released in theaters, becoming the first animated non-compilation feature film in the franchise to do so. In early August 2024, it was announced that
Ketchup Entertainment acquired the North American theatrical distribution rights to the film. The film was given a one-week limited release in Los Angeles on December 13, 2024, before a wide release in theaters in the United States on March 14, 2025. On December 31, 2022, 256 classic
Looney Tunes and
Merrie Melodies shorts were removed from HBO Max, including ''
What's Opera, Doc? and Duck Amuck'', though many were later re-added in March 2024 when the shorts on the service were rotated. In August 2024, it was reported that Warner Bros. was planning to relaunch the
Looney Tunes theatrical film series in 2028. In October 2024, it was reported that Warner Bros. was working on a "super secret
Looney Tunes project" with directors Todd Wilderman and Hamish Grieve. On March 16, 2025, two days after
The Day the Earth Blew Up expanded to a wide release, all of the classic
Looney Tunes and
Merrie Melodies shorts were removed from the Max streaming service. Three days later, it was reported that Warner Bros. was in talks with Ketchup, who had distributed
The Day the Earth Blew Up in the United States, to sell the distribution rights to the shelved movie
Coyote vs. Acme. On March 31, the negotiations proved successful. The film is currently scheduled to be released in theaters in the United States on August 28, 2026. At
CinemaCon 2025,
Warner Bros. Pictures Animation confirmed development on a new
Looney Tunes animated feature film. On August 15, 2025, the classic
Looney Tunes and
Merrie Melodies shorts began streaming on the ad-supported free streaming service
Tubi. On January 26, 2026, it was announced that
Turner Classic Movies would air the series, with each short preceding feature films as a homage to its origins.
Home media In the 1980s, the shorts received
VHS releases, with the pre-August 1948 shorts released by
MGM/UA Home Video and the post-July 1948 shorts released by
Warner Home Video. In 2003, Warner Home Video began releasing select shorts on
DVD, aimed at collectors, in four-disc sets known as the
Looney Tunes Golden Collection starting with
Volume 1. This continued until 2008, when
the final volume of the Golden Collection was released. Then, from 2010 until 2013, the company released the
Looney Tunes Super Stars DVDs. There have been numerous complaints regarding the
Super Stars releases, however (particularly the first two), having the post-1953 shorts in a 16:9 widescreen format. The last DVD in the
Super Stars series was
Sylvester and Hippety Hopper: Marsupial Mayhem, released on April 23, 2013. 2010 and 2011 saw the releases of
The Essential Bugs Bunny and
The Essential Daffy Duck DVDs. In 2011, the shorts were released on
Blu-ray Disc for the first time with the
Looney Tunes Platinum Collection series. On September 19, 2017, Warner Home Video's
Warner Archive Collection released the five-disc
Porky Pig 101 DVD set. In 2023, it was announced that a new line of single-disc Blu-ray sets called the ''
Looney Tunes Collector's Choice would release beginning on May 30. The following shorts known to be on this set are all newly remastered from the original negatives. It is a successor to the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection
DVD/Blu-ray sets. Four Blu-ray sets were released until November 26, 2024. A two-disc successor to Collector's Choice
, titled Looney Tunes Collector's Vault'', began releasing on June 17, 2025. == Licensing and ownership ==