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EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros has hired Elf scribe David Berenbaum to write Bugs Bunny, a live action/CG feature film designed to revive one of the studio’s most iconic intellectual properties. I’m told that Berenbaum, who also adapted The Spiderwick Chronicles and is writing an animated project with George Lucas–just closed his deal. No producer has yet been assigned. While Warner Bros has struggled to pick winners out of its DC Comics catalog beyond Batman, the studio has done little with its Looney Tunes catalog lately. Warner Bros scored with the 1996 film Space Jam, mingling Looney Tunes characters with NBA superstars led by Michael Jordan, but its feature momentum ground to a halt with the 2003 Brendan Fraser-starrer Looney Tunes: Back In Action.
Warner Bros has become active on the short film front. It has made a trilogy of 3D films so far. The first played before the recently released Cats & Dogs 2, the second will precede Zack Snyder’s Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole, and the third will play in front of Yogi Bear.
While the rabbit was toned down in later Looney Tunes incarnations, the 1940 Tex Avery creation was the centerpiece for smart, topical, sophisticated and sometimes subversive cartoon shorts, marked by the vocal versatility of Mel Blanc, who also voiced Elmer Fudd, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and others. Berenbaum’s repped by WME.
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Pardon me, but could you help out a fellow American who’s down on his luck?
How cool. When I was in the “Green Room” waiting to go on the “Today Show,” with Katie Couric, I met Fritz Freeling, the creator of Bugs Bunny. Mel Blank had passed away, so they were introducing the “new voice” of Bugs. Fritz went on the show just before me, and then….Bugs Bunny introduced me.
Anne,
Friz (not Fritz) Freleng (not Freeling) was a genius animator, but he did not create Bugs Bunny. Bugs was created by Ben “Bugs” Hardaway, and first used in Chuck Jones’ and Tex Avery’s cartoons. In fact, he’s called Bugs Bunny because Tex Avery didn’t know his name, and looked at the model sheet which said “Bugs’ Bunny” (as in, the bunny that Bugs drew). True fact!
Great story, though!
that’s too funny, i was looking up the exact wording for this quote today, lol…. such a classic!
Mel Blanc did not voice Elmer Fudd… A gentleman by the name of Arthur Q. Bryan Di the voice of Mr. Fudd.
I believe Mel Did it once or twice after Mr. Bryan died, but did not want to because he did nit like doing other peoples creations.
Look it up.
So… i guess if you want to split hairs sure mel did it, but give credit where credit is due and do some research.
iam glad that,WarnerBROS, is taking a very good hard look at its very most lovable, adorable charecters and bringing them to the big screen. most of these bel;oved charecters have been sitting around just waiting, and itching too be called back too work.To the big screen too have our most precious resources our children of today too have, mr bugs7bunnyFRiends, and other buds too entertain our kids of today.MOST CHILDREN TODAY DONT EVEN REALLY NOW OR RARELY SEE THE OLDER MODEL CARTOONS OF BUGS7FRIENDS. so bring it on WARNER7bros for thinking of our kids of today.
While I can appreciate your sentiment, that these classic characters are and should be timeless and evergreen, I disagree with your fluffy analysis.
The old Warner cartoons (and early Disney, for that matter) were hardly the light, innocent, children’s fare you’ve made them out to be. Bugs Bunny tackled WWII & Hitler, poked fun at movie stars that certainly kids weren’t adoring at the time, and made reference to lots of adult material. These originals were shown between double features and alongside news reels to very adult audiences. Sure kids got a kick out of them, but you have painted a very glossy picture of what was rather adult humor.
Unfortunately in this country (and seemingly ONLY this country) we view all animation as “kids stuff.” It’s not, and never should be pigeonholed as such. Animation has the ability to tell stories and move people and explore imagination in all levels of intellect.
So I agree, bring back Bugs! But do so in a way that honors the edge and realistic worldview the first incarnations of these characters once had.
I too would love this, but we should recognize now that this is not going to happen. Mark my words. It will just be another Hollywood remake that is inferior to the original and likely to alienate classic fans.
No, sorry. Space Jam was good enough.
There was nothing good about Space Jam
FYI…the new 3D shorts were actually created at a small and very talented studio in Dallas, TX – called Reel FX studios. The animation was NOT actually done by WB. I saw the short in the theatre before the dreadful feature of Cats and Dogs, and let me tell you: the Reel FX/WB combo really captured the style and spirit of the original 2D cartoons. If they could pull this off for a feature, it could be something…
RABBIT SEASON!
It’s actually “Wabbit Season”!!!
DUCK SEASON!
Actually, it’s duck season.
Personally, I prefer ‘seasoned’ duck (or wabbit, for that matter)!
The old cartoons were subversive but sophisticated they weren’t. And Berwnbaum’s credits don’t screM out “subversive”. As for CGI – it makes cartoon characters look creepy. Have we not figured that out yet?
Since the Warner Brothers executives in the 30′s and 40′s didn’t give a damn about what the boys at Termite Terrace were up to, they made cartoons to entertain themselves, not a bunch of couch-potato kids.
This will be test-screened and focus-grouped to hell and back, and will end up stinking (like that Pytka mess, Space Jam) and simply further dilute the brand.
When i see live action /CG in combination with Bugs Bunny, all I can think of is, “they’re going to fuck this up.”
Joe Dante, director of LOONEY TUNES: BACK IN ACTION, has a memo framed on his office wall from a Warner Brothers executive asking why Bugs keeps saying, “What’s up, doc?” throughout the LOONEY TUNES screenplay. The executive was 100% serious.
That, in a nutshell, explains how well Warner Brothers understands these characters. Good luck to Mr. Berenbaum.
While Mel Blanc did indeed provide most of the voices for the major Warner Bros. cartoon characters, radio comedian Arthur Q. Bryan voiced Elmer Fudd until his passing in the late ’50s.
If this is true which it seems to be, based on the recent restart of the Looney Tunes shorts, there’s one producer who comes to mind that should be involved with this film – Allison Abbate. She was producer on LTBIA and did everything she could to save it and Warners knew that, which is why they brought her back to be involved with the new shorts. She’s got great producing sensibilities and can work with the best – she’s been with Tim Burton on his animated films going back to Nightmare Before Christmas and produced last years AMAZING Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Bring back Bugs the right way this time around for a whole new generation to enjoy! “Don’t take life too seriously. You’ll never get out alive.” – Bugs
I hope that Bugs will be like Neal McDonough and stay pure in this new adventure. Unfortunately, he is a rabbit.
Sorry…the first hire for an animated feature film should NOT be a live action screenwriter. This is obvious to everyone on the frigging planet EXCEPT the hair/hare-brained suits at Warner Bros. As any six-year old who has watched a Bugs Bunny cartoon can tell you, the first hires should be an experienced and talented animation director/producer, along with gag artists, gag writers, animators and designers. Later on, if you want to punch up the script, hire some funny writers who know what works in cartoons.
This is totally true! Where is the announcement about the great ANIMATOR they are going to get to make Bugs looks and move good? We don’t want any of this shit like the new Smurfs or (shudder!) Yogi Bear movie!
Chuck Jones and Robert McKimson had much more to do with Bug’s success than did Tex Avery. He’s very overrated in my opinion. When he left the Warners studio for MGM, he tried over and over again to create a character as popular as Bugs. The closest he got was Screwball Squirrel (remember him? Didn’t think so).
Is WB going to produce this future debacle as a live-action film or as an animated full-length Looney Tune? The two are not mutually inclusive, as the deplorable Back In Action proved. Hell, Space Jam wasn’t any good either; it was a 90 minute Michael Jordan puff piece. Feh!
Actually, the closest Tex got to recapturing his success with Bugs was Droopy- admittedly less well-known, but a definite fan favourite.
Tex Avery was a genius–many of his one-shot cartoons are among the best ever made. But his most famous post-WB creation was Droopy, who IS a classic character.
Warner Bros. should take a good look at what Disney has been doing with the Muppets recently, especially the YouTube shorts that have done an incredible job bringing Kermit & Company back to their crazy, anything goes, roots.
We don’t need another Space Jam. We need hilarious shorts filled with utter mayhem. Kids can handle ACME dynamite blowing stuff up. Stop playing it safe and get back to the heart of what made these characters so great.
Live action / CGI Bugs Bunny. They MUST hire Wally Shawn to be ive action Elmer Fudd!
I smell a disaster in the making. Have you seen the CGI Yogi Bear that’s coming this Fall? He — and the movie — look terrible.
Also — IMO Mel Blanc is just about irreplaceable. None of the Warner character voices have sounded good since he passed away.
I’m afraid this is just another example of corporate greed ransacking a studio’s proud legacy…
There’s a reason this is such a prolific image: http://www.americanmemorabilia.com/pics/33880_01_lg.jpg
This is such a bad idea. Even if someone involved with Elf is involved, it can only end in tears.
The personality that we all know as Bugs was best defined by the cool, reasoned and unflappable character that appeared mostly in the Chuck Jones cartoons of the 1940′s and 1950′s. Tex created Bugs (in ‘A Wild Hare’), McKimson and Freleng both, to a large extent, imitated Jones’ interpretation of the character (Clampett is a footnote and not worth mentioning).
The problem with the recent incarnations of Bugs and the other Looney Tunes characters is that the Warner executives don’t really understand them and thus rely on some sense that the characters are meant to be well, loony… They’re not and if they insist on doing things like ‘edging them up’ or contemporizing them as they did with Space Jam, and to a lesser degree Back In Action, this project will be little more than another expensively produced DVD product (if DVD’s still exist by the time this gets made).
A quick story about just how much Warner Bros. doesn’t understand theses characters: At the big unveiling of the new Bugs Bunny postage stamp back in the 90′s the studio with all of the hullaballoo deserving a movie premiere and all the pomp of a royal wedding, the then president of Consumer Products for the studio stood up in front of the assembled guests and media and delivered his rote line about having the best job in Hollywood: “I’m Bugs Bunny’s agent,” he quipped. Chuck Jones, who was seated one row in front of me, leaned over to someone and whispered (loudly enough for me and others to have heard), “No he’s not, he’s his goddamned pimp.”
If Chuck thought so, it was certainly good enough for me…
Let the kids have Mickey Mouse and leave Bugs Bunny for us adults!
Mel Blanc did NOT voice Elmer Fudd. Arthur Q. Bryan did the voice. Don’t get your facts wrong.
Amen to Tooner. His comments are right on. Unfortunately, there is no one left at WB that “gets” Looney Toons. Mediocre prognosis at best.
Bugs Bunny was the most racist, sexist, homophobic and violent character ever put on screen. He needs to stay in the dustbin of history where he belongs. Our children do not need to be exposed to his hatred, violence, and glorification of guns. I think shows like Dora, which emphasize diversity and multiculturalism, are in tune with what our children should be learning today.
I think Bugs should jam that multiculti weenie Dora down a rabbit hole with Elmer’s shotgun barrel, followed by a carrot-shaped stick of dynamite, just before he jumps straight up and zooms offstage.
Thththththaaaat’s all, Dora!
Bugs rules. Dora (and her wussy ilk) drools. Hope they do him justice, but assuming they’ll puss out in favor of Weenie World.
You know, it’s not FOR kids. It’s for ADULTS.
Have you watched the old cartoons?
They are for adults with adult stories.
The only problem is that if you don’t hit it spot on then you will alienate your audience.
“shut up shutting up rabbit”
“finster baby”
“kill da wabbit”
the reason they are great is that they are shorts made by people who cared by a studio that let them do what they wanted. They figured, lets let these guys make this filler for between the movies and what they did was give great characters. You have to also look at film nior and the low budget film making/storytelling of the time and how that helped hone the craft of visual storytelling.
Now the power people at warner will want to just dust off this old property and they think they can just plug it in and gold will rain down. But unless they hit the mark of our collective experience it will just piss us off.
They would be better off going back to making shorts that show after a main movie.
Time to hire Paul Dini to work on this also.
It’s funny, how this tired point of view surfaces constantly. Many people look back at the earlier part of the 20th Century with fondness. People had values, manner, integrity, religeon, etc. They also had the nondiluted bugs bunny. Today, we supposedly have more friendly, responsible characters and poeple complain we’re morally bankrupt.
It’s funny, how this tired point of view surfaces constantly. Many people look back at the earlier part of the 20th Century with fondness. People had values, manner, integrity, religeon, etc. They also had the nondiluted bugs bunny. Today, we supposedly have more friendly, responsible characters and poeple complain we’re morally bankrupt. Why do people think everything has to be offered at a kid’s level or it’s bad? Have we lost the will to think?
no. No. NO. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
I agree with most of the above posts about how great the older WB cartoons were and how the studio no longer gets them. The last time I saw a Bugs Bunny cartoon on TV someone had edited all of the violence out of it. They just can’t create politically correct Looney Tunes anymore. There are some that they still won’t release on DVD no matter how much people want to buy them. What does that tell you when a company will forfeit making a buck?
And to Blatherskite, Chuck Jones and Robert McKimson were the ones that ruined Looney Tunes in the 1950s and 1960s. Check out the latest two DVDs of Bugs and Daffy. The later ones just weren’t funny and were often out of character. Drek.
Actually, the studio shut down in 1963 and was reformed under the DePatie/Freleng banner. They made truly awful Looney Tunes cartoons, and perhaps that’s what you’re referring to with regards to the 1960′s. Neither Jones nor McKimson worked for DePatie/Freleng.
As far as the 1950′s are concerned, Jones made “What’s Opera Doc”, “Rabbit Seasoning”, “Rabbit Fire”, “Bully For Bugs”, “Rabbit of Seville”, “Duck, Rabbit, Duck” and dozens of others. Which of those cartoons do you suggest ‘ruined’ Bugs Bunny?
Can’t we just have a straight up animated looney toons flick instead? I’ve yet to see a CG live mix that didn’t suck. I’d rather have the who framed roger rabbit style of animation if they absolutely have to go the live/animated route.