What Happened to the 3D Looney Tunes?

[R. Araya]

As I know, WB Animation hasn't announced more 3D Looney Tunes beyond :beepbeep:Rabid Rider:coyote: (which I am willing to see when Yogi Bear premieres in my place) My hypotheses are the following:
1. The stagflation the U.S.A. have experienced recently is taking its toll in box-office receipts (notably 3D films) -For more information see http://mayersononanimation.blogspot.com/2010/12/bad-year-at-box-office.html -
2. WBA has severe production delays in most of its new shows (The Looney Tunes Show will premiere in March -if we have luck-, after being originally scheduled for November)
3. The negative reviews of both Cats and Dogs 2 and Yogi Bear (I am going to watch the latter in the most part for the cartoon) have discouraged the studio stalwarts to produce new shorts (I don't think if this would be a reasonable belief, as Coyote Falls was -really- very near to be nominated for an Oscar)
4. Simply they ran out of ideas...

Well, you can give your point-of-view about this. See you later.

P.S. While I did the same thread on the Big Cartoon Forum (http://forum.bcdb.com/forum/There_Will_Be_Theatrical_WB_Cartoons_in_2011_P111088/), the lack of recent replies forced me to look for other sources

P.S. 2: I've just have added a poll, so you can give an opinion with one of these hypotheses.

[nickramer]

Perhaps the new animation studio want to focus on new and different before they run out of ideas for the pair.

[Brandon Panther]

Tom Sito said on Facebook that more 3D Road Runner shorts were planned for 2011. If they've been cancelled (and they could have), I haven't heard about it.

[Philo & Gunge]

I'm sure we'll hear something soon. Realize that WB is somewhat obligated to release these shorts with 3D movies, as that's really the whole intent with them. Moreover, they don't seem to have a lot of 3D family films coming out in 2011. I don't see them showing these shorts before Green Lantern or the last Harry Potter, so I'm sure we'll hear details at some point.

[TheBlueHombre]

I just saw "Rebel Rider" last night as we went to see "Yogi Bear" for the 2nd time. We went this time because I wanted to see it again on my birthday. Anyway, it was the first time I had seen "Rebel Rider" because the first time I went to see "Yogi" was at a sneak preview event and they did not show the short during that screening.

I wasn't impressed. I didn't laugh nor did it put a smile on my face. If you think the fur on Yogi looks bad, then you won't like how it shows on the Coyote. The Road Runner looked pretty good, though. The thing is that it is almost impossible to tell a good story in only 3 minutes and that includes opening and closing credits. They used the traditional Looney Tunes music for the open but the circles came up different. I thought it was a good intro; I don't mind different. However, I felt if the cartoon could have been longer, then maybe they could have done something more with it. As the Coyote is chasing the Road Runner, they are running on a very busy New Mexico Freeway, so there is ample opportunity for the Coyote to get run over and injured. I am very biased towards the Chuck Jones RR cartoons and this was definitely not one of them.

[J. B. Warner]

I'm sure we'll hear something soon. Realize that WB is somewhat obligated to release these shorts with 3D movies, as that's really the whole intent with them. Moreover, they don't seem to have a lot of 3D family films coming out in 2011. I don't see them showing these shorts before Green Lantern or the last Harry Potter, so I'm sure we'll hear details at some point.

You know, this reminds me of an idea someone around here had a while back that I really liked - instead of putting all this effort into flashy new 3D CGI Looney Tunes that don't even turn out that great, maybe Warner Bros. should consider re-releasing some of the classic Looney Tunes in front of their contemporary features. That'd be a great way to show them off to audiences of all kinds. They could even create a theme between the feature and the short - say, "Super Rabbit" with The Green Lantern, or "Broomstick Bunny" with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Just so long as they didn't matte them into widescreen or upscale them into 3D or anything stupid like that, I'd really like to see it happen.

[Daws Butler Jr.]

Just watched "Fur of Flying" on the internet and my reaction was the same as The Blue Hombre to the short he saw... I didn't even crack a smile watching it.

I hated the direction. Yes, I understand it's all for the 3D effects, but that doesn't make the comedy work any better. If anything, it ruins the comedic timing. Just because you can do shots in CGI that you couldn't do in 2D doesn't mean that you SHOULD do them.

Of course, most of Hollywood direction these days comes from MTV and music videos. Pretty soon, we'll see a film where every shot is one frame. It won't make much difference. I can't tell what happens in most shots now.

That's why I'm glad they still make movies like "The King's Speech" where shots are on the screen long enough for you to actually be able to tell what's happening in them.

[end old man rant]

[Brandon Panther]

Not that it matters, but Linda Jones (Chuck Jones' daughter) has spoken pretty highly of the new CGI Road Runner shorts.

[MadAboutMGM]

Perhaps the new animation studio want to focus on new and different before they run out of ideas for the pair.

They rely on repetition the appeal of the series along with the Chuck Jones originals was to elaborate the coyotes ineptness. This like it or not spawned one of Warners most significant and viable cartoon stars. When the WB store was still open Road Runner dolls were the most invaluable revenue for the store. I should know I frequented as a customer. It's not substance but design and the dynamic between the two that have made them some of the most durable Golden Age characters.

[R. Araya]

Thank you for your appreciation to this thread. If you want, you can select one of the choices mentioned in the first post, plus the following one I forgot to add:

5. Few people are interested in true comedy today, in favor of more human nature fare, like in most ''comedy'' and family films (This has been often mentioned as one of the causes of the financial demise of Looney Tunes: Back in Action and Home in the Range)