In 2017, after Browngardt finished Uncle Grandpa, he met with Audrey Diehl, the creative executive at Warner Bros., at a lunch meeting. She was talking about a project that he wasn't interested in so he talked about what project he was interested in. As they wrapped up lunch, Pete said "You know, what I really want to do is to direct a Looney Tunes short." She was surprised that he liked the Looney Tunes and got him with a meeting with Sam Register. Browngardt basically said he wanted to do it like the old 40's cartoons. He then planned his cast, which was immediately set to Bauza, and he was really a fan of Jim Soper's art on Instagram, so he hired him as a character designer. On June 11, 2018, Warner Bros. Animation announced that a new series, which would "consist of 1,000 minutes spread across 1–6 minute shorts", would be released in 2019 and that it would feature "the brand's marquee characters voiced by their current voice actors in simple gag-driven and visually vibrant stories". The style of the series is reminiscent of the classic Looney Tunes shorts made by Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, Robert McKimson and others. Warner Bros. Animation President Sam Register and Peter Browngardt serve as executive producers for the series. The characters are designed by Jim Soper, with the model sheets copyright dating back to 2018. The initial designs for Looney Tunes Cartoons were previewed in the Warner Bros. Animation logo that was first shown before Teen Titans Go! To the Movies. The series brings all of the Looney Tunes characters together under one roof, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird, Sylvester the Cat, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, Foghorn Leghorn, Pepé Le Pew, Marvin The Martian, Granny, Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog, Taz, Beaky Buzzard, Cecil Turtle, Hubie and Bertie, Petunia Pig, Pete Puma, Gossamer, Mama Buzzard, Cicero "Pinky" Pig, Dr. Frankenbeans, The Gashouse Gorillas and The Gremlin as well as more obscure characters along the way. Looney Tunes Cartoons is animated by being outsourced to different animation studios. While studios like Yowza! Animation animate the shorts through applications like Toon Boom Harmony, other studios like Yearim Productions, Snipple Animation and Tonic DNA animate the shorts in a more traditional fashion. A trailer for the series was released on April 21, 2020. The short Pest Coaster was released on May 5, 2020 on the WB Kids YouTube channel as a sneak preview ahead of the release date, but without the intro, opening credits and outro sequences. Producers included copious amounts of cartoon violence and Acme Corporation weaponry, but excluded any depictions of firearms; Elmer Fudd, for example, now uses a scythe and other weapons to hunt Bugs Bunny instead of his shotgun, which has since garnered controversy.
Other characters confirmed to appear include The Gremlin, Petunia Pig, Pete Puma, Cicero "Pinky" Pig, and The Gashouse Gorillas. Several archival recordings of Mel Blanc are used from numerous miscellaneous characters, such as the tiny Daffys in "Bubble Dum". Wile E. Coyote appears, but does not speak.
Shorts
Reception
The first 10 shorts debuted at Annecy International Animated Film Festival in June 2019 and were met with very positive reactions, being described as true to the spirit of the original Looney Tunes shorts. Movie reviewing site Oneofus.net noted "While only time will tell if these shorts will become classics, they decidedly will be seen as a noble attempt to bring the “Looney” back into Looney Tunes. The cartoons are manic, beautifully animated, and feature amazing voice acting. Even the music tries to recapture the spirit of the originals." Even the characters are doing like what they did in old 30s and 40s shorts. The official launch of the first 10 episodes with HBO Max was also met with very positive reviews. Review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 85% based on 20 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. The critics consensus reads: "A vibrantly goofy return to form, Looney Tunes Cartoons is perfectly calibrated cartoon comedy." Metacritic gave the series a weighted score of 71 out of 100 based on 11 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
