On March 21, I saw “The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie.” This film reminded me why the “Looney Tunes” franchise is still entertaining and deserves theatrical releases.
“The Day the Earth Blew Up” follows Daffy Duck and Porky Pig’s journey to get enough money to repair their roof. However, things take a turn after an alien mind control scheme is discovered, leading Petunia Pig to join them in trying to save Earth from it.
While I never got attached to classic “Looney Tunes” from the twentieth century, I was fond of shows like “Baby Looney Tunes,” “Loonatics Unleashed“ and “The Looney Tunes Show“ that were released during my childhood.
Nonetheless, I loved the comedy in “The Day the Earth Blew up” that was more reminiscent of the classic titles. The goofy slapstick comedy of older “Looney Tunes” cartoons was present throughout the film but did not overstay its welcome. The innuendo humor in the film was also great. Cartoons these days do not do nearly as good of a job of writing subtle humor, so this was a refreshing change.
The movie was also animated in 2D much like its classic counterparts, diverting from most American theatrical releases that are animated in 3D. They made the right choice by opting for this style because the 2D animation is much more expressive and makes the drawings come to life more.
2D animated films rarely get made anymore, outside of anime releases from Japan, so “The Day the Earth Blew Up” is such a breath of fresh air.
Unfortunately, it does not look like the film will be as successful as it deserves to be. So far, the film has grossed just over $11 million worldwide on a budget of $15 million. This box office performance could be largely attributed to the “Looney Tunes” franchise not being as popular with modern audiences or it could be due to Warner Brothers’ treatment of the property.
“The Day the Earth Blew Up” was originally supposed to be released on HBO Max when it was announced back in 2021. However, plans changed when Warner Brothers merged with Discovery in 2022. The film ended up being shelved as a result of cost-cutting and tax write-offs and was sent to other distributors for a potential sale. Ketchup Entertainment acquired the film last year, leading to its current release.
Because Ketchup Entertainment is a small indie distributor, they have not had the necessary resources to give the film a big marketing push and advertising campaign. As a result, the film has not reached as much of the public’s attention as it likely would have if Warner Brothers released and marketed it like their other films.
Recently, all episodes of classic “Looney Tunes” were removed from Max because the franchise is seen as a low priority by the studio amidst their focus shift to family and adult programming.
Even though corporate restructuring and cost-cutting are natural aspects of business, I still do not like how Warner Brothers has been treating “Looney Tunes.” It is one of their flagship franchises and deserves better.
It appears that “The Day the Earth Blew Up” might have ended up being a big enough success for other distributors to pick up other shelved “Looney Tunes” projects as Ketchup Entertainment has acquired “Coyote vs. Acme” that will release in 2026. This is good news because these films deserve all of the support they can get.
This story was written by Christopher Hayden. He can be reached at christopher.i.hayden@marquette.edu.
