Come February 2, Looney Tunes has a new home on Turner Classic Movies.
Warner Bros. Discovery is moving over 750 shorts to TCM, starting with 45 classic cartoons starring Bugs Bunny airing in a weeklong marathon that will also spotlight the character as Star of the Month. First up on the list is 1940’s A Wild Hare, the character’s debut as directed by Tex Avery and nominated for an Oscar the following year.
The entire line of shorts will later appear on TCM on an “ongoing basis” beyond February, according to a press release, and select titles will air as TCM Premieres.
This licensing deal with TCM will last six years, and according to programming SVP Charlie Tabas, it makes the network the new “ongoing television home for this iconic library. We’re able to present these cartoons with the care they deserve, alongside the classic films they helped influence.” The deal also “ensures these cartoons are celebrated, contextualized, and accessible to audiences of all ages.”
Last year, WBD yanked hundreds of Looney Tunes shorts from HBO Max; they eventually found a home over on Tubi. That move worked out pretty great for Tubi: it used the words “a huge win” last October to describe adding the shorts to its library and said it was working to make sure those shorts would stay on the service for years to come.
At the time of writing, it’s unclear how those talks have shaken out or how much overlap there’ll be between it and TCM’s incoming stock.
But it’s clear there’s a desire to preserve the Looney Tunes library and also expand it. Later this year, the characters will return to the big screen with Coyote vs. Acme, and the gang’s other resident speedster, Speedy Gonzales, has his own solo movie in the works.
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