''Box-Office Bunny'' is a 1991 ''

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

directed by

Darrell Van Citters Darrell Van Citters (born October 29, 1956) is an American director, animator, and author, whose credits include directing the animated television series '' Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi'' and directing popular ''Looney Tunes'' cartoons featuring Bugs Bun ...

and starring

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is a cartoon character created in the late 1930s at Warner Bros. Cartoons (originally Leon Schlesinger, Leon Schlesinger Productions) and Voice acting, voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his featured roles in the ' ...

Daffy Duck Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character created by animators Tex Avery and Bob Clampett for Leon Schlesinger Productions. Styled as an anthropomorphic black duck, he has appeared in cartoon series such as ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Me ...

and

Elmer Fudd Elmer J. Fudd is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes''/''Merrie Melodies'' series and the archenemy of Bugs Bunny. Elmer Fudd's aim is to hunt Bugs, but he usually ends up seriously injuring himself and other antag ...

. It was shown in theaters alongside '' The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter'', as well as on the subsequent home media releases for the film. It is Warner Bros.' first Bugs Bunny theatrical release since 1964's ''

False Hare ''False Hare'' is a 1964 Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' animated short directed by Robert McKimson. The short was released on July 18, 1964, and stars Bugs Bunny. This cartoon was the last production completed by the original Warner Bros. Cartoon ...

''.Sandler (1998), pp. 21–22 It was issued to commemorate Bugs' 50th anniversary and is included as a special feature on the DVD for '' The Looney, Looney, Looney Bugs Bunny Movie''. The short marks the debut of

Jeff Bergman Jeffrey Bergman (born July 10, 1960) is an American voice actor who has provided the modern-day voices of various classic cartoon characters, most notably with ''Looney Tunes'' and Hanna-Barbera. Bergman was the first to replace Mel Blanc as th ...

as the voice of Bugs, Daffy, and Elmer, following the death of

Mel Blanc Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908 – July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for come ...

in July 1989.

Plot

The action takes place in a massive

movie theater A movie theater (American English) or cinema (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a movie house, cinema hall, picture house, picture theater, the movies, the pictures, or simply theater, is a business ...

, called "Cineminium". It is a 100-screen

multiplex Multiplex may refer to: Science and technology * Multiplex communication, combining many signals into one transmission circuit or channel ** Multiplex (television), a group of digital television or radio channels that are combined for broadcast * ...

, constructed right above Bugs's rabbit hole. When Bugs surfaces within the theater, usher Elmer Fudd attempts to drive him away because Bugs did not purchase a ticket. Meanwhile, Daffy finds the admission fee of the multiplex too expensive, and instead uses his

library card A library card can refer to several Plastic card, cards traditionally used for the management of books and patrons in a library. In its most common use, a library card serves similar functions as a corporate membership card. A person who holds a ...

to force open a door and sneak inside, only to stumble into Elmer and Bugs. To divert attention from his own illegal entry, Daffy joins forces with Elmer against Bugs. Following a chase through the movie theater, Bugs manages to trap his opponents within a

projection screen A projection screen is an installation consisting of a surface and a support structure used for displaying a projected image for the view of an audience. Projection screens may be permanently installed on a wall, as in a movie theater, mounte ...

and within the film depicted on it. It is apparently part of the

slasher film A slasher film is a subgenre of horror films involving a killer or a group of killers stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed or sharp tools. Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as a generic ...

subgenre and the trapped duo are confronted by a " hockey-mask wearing, chainsaw-wielding maniac". This scares Daffy and Elmer as they try to escape. Bugs ends the cartoon by saying, "It takes a miracle to get into pictures, and now these two jokers wanna get out." During the ending title, Daffy and Elmer break through the center in their attempt to escape the movie, and Bugs pokes out of the hole that they made and simply says to the audience, "And that's all, folks!".

Cast

and

Jim Cummings James Jonah Cummings (born November 3, 1952) is an American voice actor. Beginning his career in the 1980s, he has appeared in over 400 titles. Cummings has frequently worked with the Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros., serving as the offic ...

as Actor in movie *

Tress MacNeille Teressa Claire "Tress" MacNeille (; born June 20, 1951) >https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/macneille-tress-1951 is an American voice actress, who has contributed to voice-over work with credits including vo ...

as Actress in movie

Production notes

In the late 1980s,

Warner Bros. Animation Warner Bros. Animation Inc. (abbreviated as WBA) is an American animation studio which is part of the Warner Bros. Television Group, a division of Warner Bros., which is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery and serves as the animation divis ...

started producing new theatrical animated shorts, featuring the ''Looney Tunes'' characters. ''The Duxorcist'' (1987) and ''

The Night of the Living Duck ''The Night of the Living Duck'' is a six-minute 1988 ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon starring Daffy Duck, directed by Greg Ford and Terry Lennon. It was released to theatres as a part of '' Daffy Duck's Quackbusters'' on September 24, 1988 and preced ...

'' (1988) were well-received individually. Both were then incorporated in the compilation film ''

Daffy Duck's Quackbusters ''Daffy Duck's Quackbusters'' is a 1988 animated compilation film featuring classic Warner Bros. Cartoons shorts and animated bridging sequences, starring Daffy Duck. The film was released to theaters by Warner Bros. on September 24, 1988. It wa ...

'' (1988). They were followed by ''Box-Office Bunny'', the first theatrical short featuring Bugs Bunny since 1964. According to director

, the Warner Bros. studio was uncertain what to do with the film. It was reportedly completed six to nine months before its actual release. Its release was delayed because the studio wanted to release it alongside one of their feature films, but could not decide which could best serve to spotlight it. It was finally released alongside '' The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter'' (1991). The underperformance of the feature film at the box office is thought to have negatively affected the fate of the short. Kevin Sandler believes the short set an unfortunate pattern for subsequent releases. Later ''Looney Tunes'' shorts were similarly attached to

children's film A children's film, or family film, is a film genre that generally relates to children in the context of home and family. Children's films are made specifically for children and not necessarily for a general audience, while family films are made f ...

s which under-performed, in each case dragging the short film with them to relative obscurity. He offers the examples of ''

Chariots of Fur ''Chariots of Fur'' is a seven-minute ''Looney Tunes'' short released in 1994 by Warner Bros. It features Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner and was directed by Chuck Jones. Plot In a series of schemes, Wile E. fails to capture the elusive R ...

'' and '' Richie Rich'' (1994), ''

Carrotblanca ''Carrotblanca'' is a 1995 ''Looney Tunes'' cartoon short. It was originally shown in theaters alongside ''The Amazing Panda Adventure'' (in North America) and '' The Pebble and the Penguin'' (internationally). It was subsequently released on vid ...

'' and ''

The Amazing Panda Adventure ''The Amazing Panda Adventure'' is a 1995 American adventure film directed by Christopher Cain and starring Stephen Lang. It follows a 10-year-old American boy, played by Ryan Slater, who travels to China and has to take a panda cub to the reserve ...

'' (1995), ''Superior Duck'' to ''

Carpool Carpooling is the sharing of Automobile, car journeys so that more than one person travels in a car, and prevents the need for others to have to drive to a location themselves. Carpooling is considered a Demand-Responsive Transport (DRT) serv ...

'' (1996), and '' Pullet Surprise'' to ''

Cats Don't Dance ''Cats Don't Dance'' is a 1997 American animated musical comedy film directed by Mark Dindal. The film features the voices of Scott Bakula, Jasmine Guy, Matthew Herried, Ashley Peldon, John Rhys-Davies, Kathy Najimy, Don Knotts, Hal Holbrook, ...

'' (1997). Staffers involved in the production of several of these shorts reportedly suspected that the studio already knew that these feature films were "hard-to-market". From a marketing perspective, the shorts could then be used to attract additional viewers to the cinema. Sandler himself, however, suspected that Warner Bros. was simply not particularly interested in generating publicity for the animated shorts.

Reception

Charles Solomon praised the film as "funny, fast-paced, brightly colored" and managing to capture the essence of the Bugs-Elmer-Daffy films by Chuck Jones without directly copying them. He found fault, however, with the concept of ending the film "at just over five minutes".

Sources

References

External links

* {{Warner Bros. animation and comics 1991 films 1991 animated short films 1991 comedy films 1990s American animated films 1990s English-language films 1990s Warner Bros. animated short films Looney Tunes shorts Bugs Bunny films Daffy Duck films Elmer Fudd films Films set in a movie theatre Films directed by Darrell Van Citters Films scored by Hummie Mann Warner Bros. Animation short films English-language short films