The original Looney Tunes shorts have been pulled from Max with no current word on what the plans are for the classic cartoons.
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As the new week dawned, users found the library of cartoons on Max had grown a little bit smaller. The Looney Tunes shorts produced between 1930 and 1969 had been removed, and there are no current indications they will be appearing on any other services. The property has not been entirely removed, with several other Looney Tunes series still there.
According to Deadline, this is part of a new initiative by Max to focus more on adult and family programming, as it has found that children’s programming doesn’t fare well on the service.
The idea of classifying the classic Looney Tunes as ‘children’s programming’ is debatable.
Warner Bros. Discovery has had an odd relationship with the Looney Tunes brand over the last few years. It shelved the completed Coyote vs. Acme to take a tax write-off. The recently released The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Story was produced as a direct-to-streaming feature by WBD, but was later sold off to Ketchup Entertainment. And while not directly related to Looney Tunes, the company has also shut down the Cartoon Network website and the Boomerang streaming service.
If you had ever thought about getting your favorite cartoons on physical media, now may very well be the time to do so.
