By Michaela Gordoni
Warner Bros’ streaming service, Max, removed over 800 LOONEY TUNES cartoons in 2021, but WB’s loss became Tubi’s gain.
LOONEY TUNES snatched a spot in the top 10 series on Tubi in last year’s fourth quarter, TheWrap reported.
Parrot Analytics reported the franchise has made over $300 million in global subscriber revenue from 2020’s first quarter to 2025’s second quarter. But $250 million of that came from HBO Max, which seems odd when you consider how fast WB dropped the cartoons from its service.
The cartoons’ recent success proves that LOONEY TUNES is an heirloom that ought to be protected.
Despite the fact that WB razed a historic Looney Tunes building on its lot last year, insiders at the studio confirm that the studio has a commitment to preserve the franchise.
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“I’ve been around some 15 years at the studio, and the TUNES have always been core,” a Warner Bros. Discovery spokesperson said. “It’s part of the legacy and part of the current…It’s going to be a big part of the future.”
Tubi says LOONEY TUNES’ success on its platform is “no small feat.”
“At Tubi, we’re very much focused on what we see audiences engage with and giving them more. Candidly, we see a lot of positive signals around classic cinema, Black entertainment, classic animation, and nostalgia,” said Tubi head of acquisitions Sam Harowitz. “We’re driving toward what we believe fans will engage with.”
“There are a ton of viewers and fans who come to Tubi and engage with LOONEY TUNES for a multitude of reasons, and I think our job is to make that nostalgia accessible, to make those cartoons accessible to the broadest possible audience,” he said.
Harowitz told Vulture that the company will actively try to ensure that it’s LOONEY TUNES’ home for “likely years.”
Animation historian and restorer Jerry Beck said the restored cartoons “look day-one brand new, as the LOONEY TUNES should… I’m kind of glad [WBD] took them off HBO Max and allowed other networks to use them so we can all see them.”
Part of Tubi’s direction is “newstalgia,” a resurgence of the classics. It also has THE PINK PANTHER, TOM AND JERRY and POPEYE THE SAILOR, in its inventory, as well as cartoons like TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES.
The last LOONEY TUNES movie, THE DAY THE EARTH BLEW UP, came out last year. Movieguide® gave it a -1 rating. Part of the review says, “THE DAY THE EARTH BLEW UP has a strong moral, redemptive worldview. It supports sacrifice and sticking together through thick and thin.”
It seems like LOONEY TUNES has a bright future ahead.
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