Looney Tunes (film)

Looney Tunes is a 2001 American computer-animated adventure comedy film directed by Joe Dante and co-directed by Eric Goldberg. It is produced by Spike Brandt and Troy Cervone and co-produced by Christopher DeFaria based on a screenplay by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and a story by Kevin Hageman and Dan Hageman. It stars Joe Alaskey as Bugs Bunny, the main character, along with Kath Soucie, Jeff Bennett, Billy West, Eric Goldberg, Bruce Lanoil, June Foray, and more. The plot follows Bugs Bunny (Alaskey) discovering an unknown average-sized crater in the ground near the road down to the valley, which overtime became a mysterious black hole, which began vacuuming all existing property in the "Looney-Verse". Bugs, with help from Daffy Duck, Sylvester (both voiced by Alaskey) and Porky Pig (Bob Bergen), find ways on how to stop the destruction and the potential loss of their world.

Looney Tunes was produced by Warner Bros. Animation, with Yowza! Animation providing animation services, and was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures on June 8, 2001 in the United States. It received mixed reviews, with critics praising its animation, voice cast (particularly Alaskey, Bennett and West), humor and musical score by Jerry Goldsmith, though criticized the plot, runtime and source material. It was a box office success, grossing $348.5 million worldwide on a $75 million budget. A sequel, titled Looney Tunes: Back At It Again, was released in 2012, with Reel FX Animation Studios providing animation services, rather than Yowza! Animation. Looney Tunes: Tune World Multiverses, the third film installment, was released in 2015, with Warner Animation Group replacing Warner Bros. Animation, and had Mikros Image providing animation services instead of Reel FX. A fourth film, titled Looney Tunes: Dimensions, was released in 2021.

Plot
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Cast

 * Joe Alaskey as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Sylvester
 * Kath Soucie as Lola Bunny
 * Jeff Bennett as Foghorn Leghorn, Yosemite Sam, and Nasty Canasta
 * Billy West as Elmer Fudd and Peter Lorre
 * Eric Goldberg as Marvin the Martian, Speedy Gonzales, and Tweety.
 * Bruce Lanoil as Pepe Le Pew
 * June Foray as Granny
 * Bob Bergen as Porky Pig

Development
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Voice casting
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Animation
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Soundtrack
The film's music was composed by American composer Jerry Goldsmith. The film also includes reiterations of the original Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies music from the classic shows and were rearranged by Goldsmith. The album was released on June 12, 2001 for audio CD and cassette tape by Atlantic Records.

Release
Looney Tunes had its premiere at the 54th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France on May 14, 2001 and was released theatrically on June 8, 2001.

Marketing
Prior to the release, it had promotional tie-ins with Funko and Hasbro, and Warner Bros. Pictures had promoted kids toys included in McDonald's Happy MealsTM and Burger King Kids MealsTM. The first promotional release poster was revealed on November 29, 2000, which depicted an image of the black hole, with the caption "It will never be the same again". The first teaser trailer was revealed on December 15, 2000. The second teaser trailer was revealed on February 12, 2001, titled the Black Hole trailer.

The film was rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) for rude humor, slapstick violence, mild language and brief drug references.

Home media
Looney Tunes was released on DVD and videocassette on September 10, 2001, and was later released on Blu-ray on June 8, 2007 and on Sony's Universal Media Disc on April 21, 2008. An HD-DVD release was planned, but was quickly cancelled after Blu-ray won the fight of HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray. The Blu-ray release and the DVD re-release contained a behind-the-scenes feature, an animation demo by Yowza! Animation, an animated music video, and a commentary by director Joe Dante and co-director Eric Goldberg.

Box office
Looney Tunes opened on June 8, 2001 and was competing with DreamWorks' Shrek. The film grossed $56.5 million in its first day, with an additional $8.8 million in Thursday night previews, and peaked at #1 on the domestic box office charts. It grossed $401.7 million domestically and $576.3 million in foreign markets for a worldwide total of $978 million on its budget of $75 million, breaking numerous box office records, becoming the highest-grossing film of 2001, grossing $4 million more than Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and became the highest-grossing animated film of 2001, overtaking Monsters, Inc.

Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Looney Tunes has an approval rating of 55% based on 148 critic reviews, with an average rating of 6.25/10. Its critical consensus reads: "Its animation is definitely amazing, that's for sure, as well as its talented voice acting. But, the overall plot of a black hole in Looney Tunes doesn't make all that sense. It's more science-related rather than Looney-related." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 47 out of 100 based on 12 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore assigned the film an average grade "A-" on its scale of A+ to F.

Sequels
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Trivia
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