Has Warner Brothers given up on Bugs Bunny as an active cartoon franchise?
This story from WPVI-TV 6 in Philadelphia suggests Warner Brothers plans to move on from the traditional Bugs Bunny and redesign him to be edgier and more in tune with what they perceive today’s kids would want.
The station’s website reports:
The old look of the cartoon character Bugs Bunny is saying “That’s all folks!” to the generations who grew up with him. Bugs, the Road Runner and other Looney Tunes cartoon characters are getting a new look and even new names.
The “reimagined” Bugs Bunny is going to be renamed “Buzz” and star in a new series called “Loonatics.” The series will be set in the future and will feature a tough-talking rabbit with laser eyes and who is a martial arts expert. Even Daffy Duck will get a techno-update with built-in sonar.
Sander Schwartz/President of Warner Brothers Animation: “What we’re doing is taking Bugs Bunny, a classic and changing him for the kids – making him fresh, cool and hip.”
“Loonatics” starring Buzz Bunny and friends will be set in the year 2772 and, according to Warner Brothers, the characters will display the same wit and humor as the classics.
This brings us to one of The Moderate Voice’s jihads:
When people complain about music that is a collection of four letter words, of the vulgarization of America, or excessive violence in movies (where the key entertainment factor is often how creatively a human being can be murdered) the usual response is this: it’s what the public wants.
NO it isn’t. All of this is what decision makers in Hollywood or elsewhere DECIDE. THEY make judgements. They throw out a concept, new trend in music to sell CDs, and redesign a classic cartoon franchise. Did today’s kids really find Bugs was somehow outmoded and demand Warner Brothers do something about it?
On the other hand, we truly love cartoons so we won’t wish Warner Brothers ill. . From a marketing standpoint, Warners will probably produce something quite good if their Anamaniacs and Tiny Toons series are any indication of what they’ll produce. And keep this in mind: traditional animation has to work much harder now with the spread of computer animation, even on TV.
(Linked to OTB Traffic Jam)
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, writes a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.