A few years back, there was a movie called Coyote vs. Acme. It was a live-action/animated hybrid film, a legal comedy predicated on the notion that Wile E. Coyote would have grounds to sue the Acme Corporation for all their defective products. The film was written by Samy Burch (coming in hot off of May December), with story credits from Jeremy Slater and James freaking Gunn. Music video director Dave Green helmed the film, with Will Forte and John Cena starring, and Eric Bauza (the current keeper of the Mel Blanc legacy) voicing the relevant Looney Tunes characters.
By all accounts, the film had been made by a lot of talented people who sincerely cared about the Looney Tunes legacy and were deeply proud of the film they made. The film had been completed in time for a Summer 2022 release, before the movie got pushed back to 2023. At the time, the stated rationale was that WBD had bet the farm on Barbie and The Flash that year and they wanted their Looney Tunes picture out of the way.
Then came November of 2023, when word came down that Coyote vs. Acme had been burned for tax writeoffs. Reportedly, the execs at WBD didn’t even see the movie before deciding to scrap it. There was talk of selling the film off to some other studio, but WBD demanded $70-80 million — more money than any studio was willing to offer and no counter-bids were accepted. Everyone involved with the film was royally pissed off, and WBD was once again a worldwide laughingstock after repeating the obscene mistakes they had made with Batgirl.
But there’s a crucial difference here. With Batgirl, the (horseshit) company line was that the film had been so unbelievably terrible that it couldn’t be salvaged or released. But Coyote vs. Acme was apparently good enough that other companies were willing to release it, WBD apparently thought it was good enough for a $70 million price tag, and they refused to lower the cost. Even though they only stood to make $30 million from the tax write-off, they insisted on $70 million and wouldn’t budge for anything.
This had nothing to do with the quality of the movie. WBD simply did not want this movie to see the light of day. Flash forward to today — as I type this, news is coming in that Looney Tunes is getting removed from Max.
And now we have The Day the Earth Blew Up, a Looney Tunes animated film that was originally set to be a Max exclusive. Once again, the film was completed before WBD decided to cancel the release. Luckily, this one got picked up by Ketchup Entertainment, who proceeded to do what WBD refused to do and gave it a theatrical release.
Unfortunately, the film came out with borderline non-existent promotion and a wide release of only 2,827 theaters nationwide. To put that in perspective, Mickey 17 is currently playing on 3,807 theaters. I might further add that the Looney Tunes are getting their grand return to multiplexes in a shitty release window during a year that’s been notoriously bad for box office returns so far. In fact, Mickey 17 looks to be yet another massive financial black eye for WBD, but I digress.
Speaking of Warner Bros. Animation, their entire output last year consisted of a three-part adaptation of Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths (straight to DVD), a two-part adaptation of Watchmen (direct to streaming), and The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (a sandbagged theatrical release).
The point here is that WBD is clearly doing everything they can to devalue their animation department. That includes the Looney Tunes, which remains a stable of the most beloved and iconic characters and stories in pop culture history. Yet in spite of the corporate fuckery, there are so many talented artists out there who love these characters and are determined to do right by them.
All of this to say that The Day the Earth Blew Up is a fantastic movie and you should go see it because fuck David Zaslav.
Daffy Duck and Porky Pig (both voiced by Bauza) are here presented as two adoptive brothers who take on — and are quickly fired from — a series of odd jobs to try and save their run-down childhood home. If you’ve ever seen a Daffy Duck/Porky Pig cartoon (and I expect that all of you have), you’ve got a pretty good idea of what we’ve got here. Daffy is the careless lunatic, Porky is the well-meaning schlub who can’t keep Daffy under control, and their two clashing approaches turn any scenario into comical chaos. It’s a fine premise well in keeping with the Looney Tunes classics. This is a solid foundation for an off-the-wall humorous presentation of the threadbare “two longtime friends push each other, break apart, then come back together” arc.
Enter Petunia Pig (Candi Milo) an eccentric super-genius chemist working at the local chewing gum factory. After a meet-cute with Porky, she’s gracious enough to get our two main characters employed at the factory before joining them on the overarching plot (more on that in a minute, I promise). So, what we’ve got here is a story about two lifelong best buds who’ve got a good thing going until a woman comes between them. All well and good.
By the way, Petunia’s whole deal is that she’s pissed off with her company repackaging and releasing the same old flavors with new branding. She’s out to find and develop new chewing gum flavors to give the public something they never knew they needed. I’m trying to parse out the meaning and relevance of such an anti-corporate statement within the context of a near-cancelled movie made to cash in on a near-century-old IP and a corporation dead-set on devaluing that same IP. I’ll leave it to someone smarter than I am to figure that out.
Anyway, along comes an unnamed Alien Invader (voiced by Peter MacNicol) with an evil plan to invade the Earth. He does this by contaminating the supply at the aforementioned chewing gum factory, so now anyone who chews that particular gum will be turned into mindless zombies.
That’s right, folks: It’s an alien zombie apocalypse story… about chewing gum. You know, weirder movies have been made. And for a kid-friendly premise about the end of the world, it’s not bad.
Going beyond the initial premise, the plot to this movie is inspired. There are some genuinely diabolical and ingenious plot twists in here, each one presented with a laugh-out-loud joke. It’s deeply impressive how many jokes are in here, and how many jokes land.
Granted, there are some noticeable drawbacks. We’ve got a couple of extended flashback montages that only show us what we’ve already seen, a gratuitous and flagrant means of recycling animation. The big reveal of the “greatest resource” that the Invader is ultimately after isn’t nearly worth the setup (though the Invader does have a second motivation that’s goddamn brilliant). And without spoiling too much, it’s flat-out deus ex machina bullshit how Porky and Daffy survive the climax.
On the other hand, this is freaking Looney Tunes. Nobody cares how ridiculous and stupid and implausible any of this is. So long as the animation is fantastic, the jokes are funny, and the pacing never slows down, that’s all we’re here for. And this movie delivers on all fronts at all times.
This movie has no less than eleven credited writers (including director Peter Browngardt, who came with a long and deeply respectable history of work with Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network), and every single one of them knew what they were doing. There is a palpable love and appreciation for the style and legacy of Looney Tunes. It was genuinely fun to keep an eye out for all the nods to the likes of Tex Avery and Bob Clampett — they even brought in Ruth Clampett, Bob’s daughter, for a brief voice cameo as a waitress. Hell, they even cast Wayne Knight to voice the mayor, so we’ve got some Space Jam representation in there!
I’m honestly not sure what else there is to say about The Day the Earth Blew Up, because it’s the freaking Looney Tunes. This is pure old-fashioned cel-animated nostalgic fun, with diabolically clever presentation and modern sensibility. This is everything we know and love about Looney Tunes without any of the corporate-addled bullshit that sunk Space Jam: A New Legacy.
Perhaps most importantly, this is an indictment of WBD and the assholes who almost kept this film away from us. Anyone who can’t make money off of this movie should get out of the money-making business. This movie is proof that there is still a place in this world for Looney Tunes, with artists and audiences who still want to laugh with these characters. I raise a glass to Ketchup Entertainment, and I wish them many millions of dollars that would’ve gone to Zaslav and his fellow ghouls in the WBD C-suite.
The film is funny and smart and entertaining for all ages, bursting with personality and energy. Strongly recommended.