Cartoon Network will play a role in parent AOL Time Warner Inc.'s
multiplatform revival of its 'Looney Tunes' animation franchise.
Cartoon will debut Baby Looney Tunes -- a new series featuring Bugs
Bunny, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck and other classic Looney Tunes characters when they
were young -- Sept. 3 in primetime.
Warner Bros. Animation adopted a similar toon-stars-as-small-fry tack with
Tiny Toon Adventures, the long-running syndicated co-production with
Steven Spielberg, which enjoyed repeat plays on both Cartoon and
Nickelodeon.
Baby Looney Tunes will be the first peg of the Looney comeback, followed
by the first in a series of new theatrical shorts early in 2003. Then, Looney
Tunes: Back in Action, a combo live-action/animated feature starring Brendan
Fraser, is expected to hit theaters that November.
Warner Bros. Animation will have three first-run series on Cartoon's 2002-03
primetime schedule: Baby Looney Tunes, What's New Scooby-Doo?
(also playing on Kids WB) and a second 26-episode season of Justice
League.
In other animation-series news with a feature connection, Sony Pictures'
Stuart Little -- the sequel to which premieres nationwide next month --
will be turned into an HBO Family original series in December.
The show will combine traditional and computer-generated animation
techniques, as well as incorporating child empowerment and esteem-building in
its plots.
And MTV: Music Television will delay the premiere of its computer-crafted
Spider-Man toon series, inspired by the Sony theatrical mega-hit, until
early 2003. The series was scheduled to launch this fall.
