Classic ‘Looney Tunes’ Completely Removed from Max

It’s official. The original Looney Tunes shorts of animation’s Golden Age (1930-1969) have been pulled from Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max platform. Deadline confirmed with the streamer that these iconic films, which include Academy Award winners or nominees and National Film Registry inductees, are no longer available on the streamer as part of WBD’s prioritization of “adult and family programming,” which apparently classifies these highly influential, multi-generational favorites as children’s fare.

The decision comes after years of uncertainty for Looney Tunes fans. In January of 2023, then-HBO Max removed more than 250 classic shorts from the platform. Later that year, it erroneously included collection in its list of outgoing titles for November before issuing a correction. In February of 2024, Max swapped roughly 130 Looney Tunes shorts on the platform out for a new batch, which included the previously removed notables like Porky’s Duck Hunt, One Froggy Evening and What’s Opera, Doc?

Despite WBD’s massive catalog of animation, including the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons and Hanna-Barbera classics as well as decades of favorites from Cartoon Network and Adult Swim, the post-merger company has disappointed fans by removing numerous seasons and full series from Max. Last year, the Boomerang classic cartoon service was shut down entirely, followed by CartoonNetwork.com. The David Zaslav-led company also dumped the hybrid Looney Tunes feature Coyote vs. Acme for a $70 million write-off, and dropped distribution of the fully animated feature The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, which has finally hit theaters through Ketchup Entertainment.

According to Deadline, Max is still offering spinoffs of the Looney Tunes franchise, including The Day the Earth Blew Up helmer Peter Browngardt’s Looney Tunes Cartoons (six seasons), New Looney Tunes (two seasons, with missing episodes), Baby Looney Tunes (two seasons), Tiny Toons Looniversity (two seasons and Spring Break special), The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries (five seasons) and preschool-targeted Bugs Bunny Builders (two seasons).