[Annecy 2018] That's Not All Folks: Warner Bros Announce New Looney Tunes Shorts

This week is one of the most important in the animation calendar, as this year's Annecy Festival takes place. During the first day, one of the highest profile events was a preview of the Warner Bros slate.

At a joint presentation by Warner Bros Animation and Warner Animation Group, attendees were given previews of upcoming features Smallfoot, Teen Titans Go To The Movies and The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part. The biggest surprise at the event, however, was an announcement that drew on Warner Bros rich animated history.

Warner Bros Animation revealed plans to release a brand new series of Looney Tunes shorts. There have been various attempts to revive the classic series on television or on film but none of them ever lived up to the original. So Warners are now returning them to their original format.

The shorts will range from one to six minutes in length. There are 50 episodes currently in production, and WBA aims to produce 1000 minutes of new cartoons in total. The films will all be  2D animation but will feature a mix of styles. They will be "cartoonist-driven", with each artist able to bring their own style to the shorts they produce. This sounds like it will be in a similar vein to the very successful (and excellent) new Mickey Mouse shorts Disney have released over recent years

"I wanted to go back to the ‘40s Looney Tunes,  late ‘30s, early ‘40s, super irreverent, super bananas, high energy. They pushed the surrealism, the high physicality of the animation, the expressions in the animation," executive producer Peter Browngardt told the audience.

The shorts will feature established Looney Tunes cast members such as Bob Bergen and Jeff Bergman, as well as new voices such as Eric Bauza who will be taking over as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Tweety.

The audience was treated to a preview of the in-production short The Curse Of The Monkey Bird featuring Daffy and Porky Pig (in animatic form).

The shorts will debut from some time in 2019 and will be released across multiple platforms, including digital, mobile and broadcast. Could we also see them screen theatrically? Well, we can always dream!

Are you excited for this surprise return? Let us know in the comments or via our social media channels.

[source 1, source 2]