is the
Animation division of
Warner Bros. , a subsidiary of
Time Warner . One of the most successful animation studios in
American media history, Warner Bros. Animation is closely associated with the ''
Looney Tunes '' and ''
Merrie Melodies '' characters, some of whom -
Bugs Bunny ,
Daffy Duck , and
Porky Pig - are among the most famous and recognizable characters in the world.
The studio is the successor to (formerly '''
Leon Schlesinger Productions'''), the studio which produced ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon shorts from
1933 to
1963 , and from
1967 to
1969 . Warner re-established its own animation division in
1980 to produce ''Looney Tunes'' related works. Since
1990 , Warner Bros. Animation has primarily focused upon the production of television and feature animation of other properties, notably including those related to Time Warner's
DC Comics publications.
The original Warner Bros. Cartoon studio, as well as all of Warner Bros.' '', led Jones to produce ''
The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie '' for Warner Bros. in
1979 . This film blended classic ''Looney Tunes''/''Merrie Melodies'' shorts with newly-produced wraparounds of Bugs Bunny introducing each of the cartoons. Warner Bros. responded to the success of this film by re-establishing its own cartoon studio.
Warner Bros. Animation re-opened its doors in 1980 to produce compilation films and television specials starring the ''Looney Tunes'' characters. Friz Freleng left '' (1983) featured footage by a new Warner Bros. Animation staff.
By 1986, Freleng had departed, with
Steven S. Greene and
Kathleen Helppie-Shipley taking his place. The studio continued production on special projects starring the ''Looney Tunes'' characters, sporadically producing new ''Looney Tunes'' shorts for theaters such as ''
The Duxorcist '' (1987), ''
Box Office Bunny '' (1990), and ''
Carrotblanca '' (1995). Many of these shorts, as well as the new footage in the compilation film ''
Daffy Duck's Quackbusters '' (which includes ''The Duxorcist'') was directed by
Greg Ford and
Terry Lennon .
Beginning in 1989, Warner Bros. moved into regular television animation production. Warners' television division was established by producer
Tom Ruegger , who brought with him much of the staff from
Hanna-Barbera Productions ' ''
A Pup Named Scooby-Doo '' series. A studio for the television unit was set up at the
Sherman Oaks Galleria northwest of
Los Angeles . The first Warner Bros. original animated TV series ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' (
1990 -
1992 ) was produced in conjunction with
Amblin Entertainment , and featured young cartoon characters based upon specific ''Looney Tunes'' stars, and was a success. Later Amblin/Warner Bros. TV series, including ''
Animaniacs '' (
1993 -
1998 ), its spin-off ''
Pinky And The Brain '' (
1995 -
1998 ), and ''
Freakazoid! '' (
1995 -
1997 ) followed in continuing the ''Looney Tunes'' tradition of cartoon humor.
Warner Bros. Television Animation also began developing shows based upon '' was produced in 1993 and bumped up to theatrical release.
Warner Bros., as well as several other Hollywood studios, moved into feature animation following the success of Disney's '''' (1996), a live-action/animation mix which starred
NBA Basketball star
Michael Jordan opposite
Bugs Bunny (Jordan had previously appeared with the Looney Tunes in a number of
Nike commercials). Directed by
Joe Pytka (live-action) and
Bruce W. Smith &
Tony Cervone (animation), ''Space Jam'' proved to be a success at the box office. Animation production for ''Space Jam'' was primarily done at the new Sherman Oaks studio, although much of the work was outsourced to animation studios around the world.
Following ''Space Jam's'' success, Warner Bros. Feature Animation continued production on its next feature, ''
Quest For Camelot '' (1998), which proved an unsuccessful release. The third Warner Bros. animated feature,
Brad Bird 's ''
The Iron Giant '' (1999), was not a commercial success, although it received rave reviews and performed well with test audiences. ''The Iron Giant'' would eventually became a modern
Cult Classic . The studio's next film, ''
Osmosis Jones '' (2001) was another animated/live action mix which suffered through a troubled production. Directors
Tom Sito and
Piet Kroon completed the animation long before the live-action segments, eventually directed by
Bobby &
Peter Farrelly and starring
Bill Murray , were begun. The resulting film was not a box office success, although Warners did produce a related
Saturday Morning Cartoon , ''
Ozzy And Drix '' (
2002 -
2003 ) for its
WB broadcast network.
Following the releases of ''The Iron Giant'' and ''Osmosis Jones'' the feature animation staff was scaled back, and the entire animation staff - feature and television - were moved to the larger Sherman Oaks facility. The final Warner Bros. Feature Animation production was another live-action/animation mix, '''' (2003), which was meant to be starting point for a reestablishment of the ''Looney Tunes'' brand, including a planned series of new ''Looney Tunes'' theatrical shorts produced by ''Back in Action'' writer and producer
Larry Doyle . After ''Back in Action'', directed by
Joe Dante (live action) and
Eric Goldberg (animation), failed at the box office, production was shut down on the new ''Looney Tunes'' shorts and the feature animation unit was dissolved. Two TV series based loosely upon the ''Looney Tunes'' property, ''
Baby Looney Tunes '' (
2002 -
2004 ) and ''
Loonatics Unleashed '' (
2005 -present) have assumed the place of the original shorts on television.
Warners' parent company in
2001 , Warners fully took over production of H-B related properties such as ''
Scooby-Doo '', producing a steady stream of ''Scooby'' direct-to-video films and two new series, ''
What's New, Scooby-Doo? '' (
2002 -
2005 ) and ''
Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get A Clue! '' (
2006 -present).
The series which Hanna-Barbera had been producing for Turner's
Cartoon Network before and during the Time Warner/Turner merger were shifted to production at
Cartoon Network Studios , a sister company to Warner Bros. Animation. Warner Bros. Animation, today exclusively involved in the production of animated television programming and direct-to-video features, currently produces several of the shows airing on the
Kids' WB! Saturday Morning programming block of
The CW . These programs include ''Loonatics Unleashed'', ''Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!'', ''
Krypto The Superdog '', ''
Xiaolin Showdown '', ''
The Batman '', and ''
Tom And Jerry Tales ''. By 2007, the studio had downsized significantly from its size during the late 1990s. Warner Bros. downsized the studio further in June, shut down the Sherman Oaks studio, and had Warner Bros. Animation moved to the Warner Bros. Ranch in
Burbank, California .
To expand the company's online content presence, Warner Bros. announced the launch of "T-Works" in the spring of 2008, new website that gathers its core animation properties in a single online environment that will be interactive and customizable for site visitors. The T-Works will be developed to offer both originally produced content along with classic animated episodes, games, and exploration of virtual worlds, all supported by advertising. Characters to be used in the project from the Warner libraries include those in the
Looney Tunes ,
Hanna-Barbera and
DC Comics areas.
- '' Space Jam '' (1996, animation/live-action)
- '''' (2001)
- ''Tom and Jerry Blast Off to Mars'' (2005)
- '''' (2005) (released theatrically in select cities by Kidtoon Films )
- ''Tom and Jerry: The Karate Guard'' (2005)
- ''Tom and Jerry: Shiver Me Whiskers'' (2006)
- ''Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale'' (2007)
- '''' (1998)
- '''' (2000)
- '''' (2003)
- '' The Batman Vs Dracula '' (2005)
- '''' (2006)
- '''' (2007)
- '''' (2007)
- '''' (2008)
- '''' (2008)
- ''Chuck Amuck : The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist'' by Chuck Jones, published by Farrar Straus & Giroux, ISBN 0-374-12348-9
- ''Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons'', Leonard Maltin, Revised Edition 1987, Plume ISBN 0-452-25993-2 (Softcover) ISBN 0-613-64753-X (Hardcover)
