Why Does WBD Keep Trying to Kill Off Its Cartoon Legacy?

Sorry, millennials, but Warner Bros. Discovery does not care about your nostalgia. A week after announcing the sunsetting of the Boomerang website (effective September 30), WBD has quietly shut down the Cartoon Network website. It now invites visitors to subscribe to Max for $9.99 a month.

Those who still have a cable subscription, however, can blithely continue watching Boomerang and Cartoon Network programming, making us question why we ever cut cords to begin with.

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“We are focusing on the Cartoon Network shows and social media where we find consumers are the most engaged and there is a meaningful potential for growth,” a Cartoon Network spokesperson told IndieWire on August 9. “While we have closed some digital products, fans can continue to interact with Cartoon Network via the Cartoon Network app as well as select TV providers apps on platforms including mobile and connected devices like Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon and via social platforms YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. And, of course, fans also can continue to tune in to the Cartoon Network channel to enjoy 11 hours of their favorite Cartoon Network series from 6 a.m. -5 p.m. daily.”

Cartoon Network’s fate appears to have been accurately prophesied when Warner Bros. Discovery merged Cartoon Network Studios with Warner Bros. Animation in October 2022. Creatives saw the writing on the wall.

This week’s one-two punch makes it clear that WBD and CEO David Zaslav care even less about its animation legacy than about making sure “House of the Dragon” has enough episodes to tell a complete story.

Compare WBD’s treatment of the iconic animated characters in its library (Looney Tunes! Scooby-Doo!) to that of Disney. Over on Disney+, classic shorts proliferate — even with outdated attitudes and cigarette smoking — and Disney’s 2023 short “Once Upon a Studio” brought back to life 100 of the studio’s most indelible characters. Max, meanwhile, yanked 256 of its Looney Tunes shorts back in 2023 — including stone-cold classics like “What’s Opera, Doc?” — and Zaslav shelved completed feature films “Coyote vs. Acme” and “Scoob! Holiday Haunt” because it’s more profitable not to release content.

Not that decimating an animation legacy that began in 1930 has helped Warner Bros. Discovery all that much. WBD’s stock price hit an all-time low on Thursday after the company revealed the day prior that its TV networks are worth $9.1 billion less than it originally thought. But, hey, that $30 million tax credit preventing us from seeing Will Forte representing Wile E. Coyote against the Acme Corporation definitely helped out (an individual with knowledge tells IndieWire “Coyote vs. Acme” is still available for sale, should there be any interested buyers).

The bad vibes seemed to get worse when news broke this week that “Fixed,” an R-rated animated movie featuring the voices of Adam Devine and Kathryn Hahn from Cartoon Network veteran Genndy Tartakovsky (“Dexter’s Laboratory,” “Samurai Jack”), also wouldn’t be released by Warner Bros., despite being completed.

It’s another made-for-streaming movie from the old regime, but this one isn’t exactly the same as the “Coyote vs. Acme” scenario. “Fixed” was a co-production with Sony Pictures Animation and was a negative pick-up for Warner Bros. IndieWire has confirmed that the rights have been returned to Sony, and it is now the one looking to shop it rather than it sitting on WB’s shelf. But a source says that while news just broke, the film has quietly been picking up dust for months waiting for Sony to make a move.

One bright spot: Another completed Looney Tunes made-for-streaming movie that’s not “Coyote vs. Acme” did find a home: “The Day the Earth Blew Up.” Distributor Ketchup Entertainment ponied up to release the film about Daffy Duck and Porky Pig uncovering an alien invasion. It, too, was quietly among WBD’s write-off casualties back in 2022, but at least someone cares enough to want people to see it.

To add insult to injury, WBD isn’t just mistreating its own content; earlier this year, the company shut down Rooster Teeth, ending 21 years of “premium dumb content.” The company had been operating at a loss, but it was a stark reminder that some people put a bold, underlined emphasis on the latter half of “show business.”

For what it’s worth, Warner Bros. Animation is ramping up under the leadership of former DreamWorks executive Bill Damasckhe. He has a slate that includes an animated “Cat in the Hat” movie slated for Q1 2025, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” eyeing a release several years down the road, two movies with Locksmith Animation, and an Animal Planet movie about some photo-realistic meerkats. A source says to expect some footage come CinemaCon or Annecy next year.

Thank goodness TCM had enough heavy hitters in support of maintaining its dedication to the history of cinema to prevent it from being gutted and stripped for parts as well. Too bad that the glorious anarchic shenanigans of Elmer Fudd, Fred Flintstone, and other icons that defined childhood for multiple generations don’t elicit the same passion.

That’s all, folks.

Additional reporting by Brian Welk and Tony Maglio.

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