'The Day The Earth Blew Up' Looney Tunes Director Reveals More Cast In New Poster
The first fully animated Looney Tunes movie is supposed to be released sometime this year
The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie may not have solid release details made public yet since being shopped for a theatrical release, but things are looking very promising. Director Pete Browngardt took a photo of the film’s poster to his Instagram Monday night, and it’s time to analyze and explain.
While Petunia Pig was present in the most recently released look in the film, this appearance on the poster sees her running away in terror with Daffy and Porky, who are both voiced by Eric Bauza this time. Will she be the third hope of unlikely heroes when facing the threat of alien invasion, racing to save the world? We’ll see, but the poster lists that she will be voiced by prolific voice actress Candi Milo. Now, Petunia, who is Porky’s love interest no matter how much welcome character development she gets in more recent Looney Tunes media, has never had a consistent voice actress, owing to largely inconsistent usage over the years. In the three most recent series, she’s had a different one in each. On New Looney Tunes it was Jessica DiCicco, on Looney Tunes Cartoons it was Lara Jill Miller, and on the preschool-aimed Bugs Bunny Builders it’s Alex Cazares. Milo’s voice acting resume is vast, known for roles like Nick Dean in the Jimmy Neutron franchise, Snap in ChalkZone, second Dexter on Dexter’s Laboratory, and Madame Foster and Duchess on Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends. Her most prominent Looney Tunes roles have been those she succeeded June Foray in after her passing: Granny and Witch Hazel. In fact she uses her Madame Foster voice for Granny and it really works.
But who are the trio running away in terror from? Well, their alien tormentor is The Invader, and he’s voiced by Peter MacNicol. He’s known for his film roles in Dragonslayer, Sophie’s Choice, Ghostbusters II and Addams Family Values, but probably best known in his Emmy-winning role of John Cage on the Fox dramedy Ally McBeal, recently reuniting with several cast members for a skit at Monday’s ceremony. He’s also starred on Chicago Hope and Numbers, and built up quite the voice acting resume in superhero media, including as the worthless good-for-nothing wretched waste of space version of Chronos who could think of one thing in Justice League Unlimited’s two parter “The Once and Future Thing”. He was also The Spectacular Spider-Man’s Doctor Octopus, and the Batman: Arkham series’s Mad Hatter. It should be noted that the poster is probably for European audiences as it reads “In Cinemas Soon”.
Having a fully animated theatrical Looney Tunes movie is a lot like one for Mickey Mouse. It just hasn’t happened and it’s almost baffling that it hasn’t. Looney Tunes feature films are a lot more numerous than Mickey’s, with the compilation films, the direct-to-video films, and the live action hybrid trio, but Browngardt, who developed Looney Tunes Cartoons having come from his own created series, Cartoon Network’s Uncle Grandpa, is set to deliver after quite the journey. The Kevin Costello-written film was originally announced in September 2021 for Cartoon Network’s ACME Night and Max, with two of the projects it would later be dropped with: Did I Do That To The Holidays: A Steve Urkel Story, now known as Urkel Saves Santa: The Movie! and Merry Little Batman. In August 2022, the new Warner Bros. Discovery regime halted development on them, Batman: Caped Crusader, The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie, and a second Looney Tunes film, Bye Bye Bunny: A Looney Tunes Musical, forcing all of them to be shopped. By coincidence, upcoming schedules seem to indicate that the movie timeslot that ACME Night became (because so much original programming intended for it was dropped) seems to be ending, and did so on Space Jam: A New Legacy on January 14. Both Merry Little Batman and Urkel Saves Santa were released in time for the 2023 holiday season through Amazon Prime Video and an unceremonious home video release respectively. Prime Video also rescued Caped Crusader beforehand and announced a Bat-Family spinoff series when picking up Merry Little Batman. GFM Animation launched worldwide sales on this film at the American Film Market in early November. See the poster below and I will keep you updated on formal announcements.
