The day Bugs Bunny aficionados have been dreading has finally come to pass. After several reconsiderations and false starts, Warner Bros has finally followed through with its threat to remove the entirety of the classic Looney Tunes shorts from their Max streaming service. They’re no longer there.
The scrubbing has been a multi-step process. In 2022, over 250 of the shorts vanished from the service overnight. In 2023, the remainder appeared under the “Leaving Max” category temporarily, until they claimed it was a “mistake” and set them back. It seems now they’re serious.
The timing is weird, as the same weekend in which the shorts were removed was also the weekend The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie released in theaters: the first fully animated theatrical LT movie that isn’t made up of recycled shorts material or live-action footage of basketball players. If kids get curious about Bugs ‘n Daffy after watching this, they’ll find nothing. But what do you expect from modern WB these days anyway…logic?
There IS an official answer from Max regarding this: representatives have told the press after seeing low numbers for children’s content for months, the streamer’s new strategy is to abandon kids entirely and “prioritize adult and family programming,” which would explain their cancellation of the Sesame Street deal. It’s not like the Looney Tunes don’t have plenty of adult fans, though.
As of St. Patrick’s Day 2025, here’s what remains on Max of the characters once synonymous with WB as a brand:
If executive behavior remains predictable, Max’s ban on kid-targeted programming should last until around the time another streamer has a big children’s hit, resulting in a change in policy overnight and a sudden realization they own some of the most iconic characters of all time. Who knows when that’ll be, though.
The post That’s All Folks: Classic Looney Tunes Are No Longer On Max appeared first on Anime Superhero News.
