Bugs Bunny is to Warner Bros as Mickey Mouse is to Disney, at least for most casual movie and television consumers. There are folks out there that don't know much else about either studio that still know that much.
So learning that Warner Bros might be looking to sell their Looney Tunes stake is shocking.
It stems from a report that Warner Bros might be selling a single Looney Tunes film, Coyote Vs. Acme, that they had cancelled as a tax dodge earlier this year. It seems that they are looking to offload the completed film and that seems to have generated the buzz about selling the whole catalogue.
It's not totally insane, business wise, at least on the surface. The just released "The Day the Earth Blew Up" has under performed in theatres, despite outstanding performances from Daffy Duck, Porky and Petunia Pig. It's a fun little film, but it's not making the money the studio had hoped for. Perhaps they think that the Looney Tunes properties have had their day and are looking to cash in and move on.
I am torn. Part of me can't fathom Warner Bros without Looney Tunes. The rest of me wonders if a new regime in charge of Bugs and company might be able to infuse the characters with new life.
I honestly think that either way it goes down, Warner Bros might just be the next "Big" studio to get broken up and sold off, a la 20th Century Fox. My brain boggles at the idea of Bugs Bunny or Batman moving to Disney, but with all the iffy numbers and news from Warner Bros lately, I can't rule it out.
One of these days...
No comments:
Post a Comment