HBO Max’s ‘Looney Tunes’ Purge Has Found a Sanctuary in Tubi

Looney Tunes‘ search for a streaming home has reached a happy ending—and some consolation after being prominently featured on HBO Max initially and then being wiped from the platform. The series has settled on Tubi, where fans can now find over 700 episodes.

After being removed from the HBO Max media library back in March, the majority of the classic Looney Tunes cartoons were in limbo, but thankfully, Tubi swept in to save them. The rescue all but mirrors the prophetic algorithms-are-evil plot of Space Jam 2, where the Tunes’ franchise world was being threatened with deletion off the fictional Warner 3000 streaming service. Like Jordan and LeBron, Tubi is the real MVP here!

It’s really neat to see the Looney Tunes be widely available on a free platform and not a paywalled streaming service; it reminds me of the accessibility of watching them for free when I was little. Looney Tunes cartoons were how I discovered classical music, slapstick heroics, and a love for animation. I’m delighted a new generation has such readily available access now too.

The HBO Max original Looney Tunes Cartoons series, which began in 2020, as well as recent spin-offs such as Bugs Bunny Builders and Tiny Toons: Looniversity, are all that remain on the WB Discovery streaming service. It is also the streaming home of The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, which enjoyed a theatrical run—pulling in $15 million at the box office—after Ketchup Entertainment stepped in to give it a big-screen showcase. (Ketchup is also giving the upcoming Coyote vs. Acme its theatrical release.)

This Tubi news is a win for animation and free access to the formative classics in pop culture. Truly you can never underestimate the Looney Tunes characters making a cartoony Hail Mary comeback, no matter which corporation tosses an anvil at them.

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