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

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series '' Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation. ...

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

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 an animated cartoon character created in the late 1930s by Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Bros. Cartoons) and voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his starring roles in the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merr ...

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

and

Elmer Fudd Elmer J.'' Hare Brush'' (1956) Fudd is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes''/'' Merrie Melodies'' series and the archenemy of Bugs Bunny. He has one of the more disputed origins in the Warner Bros. cartoon panthe ...

. 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.'s 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. Cartoons ...

''.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 and impressionist 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 rep ...

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

Mel Blanc Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908July 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 comedy r ...

on July 10, 1989.

Background

In the late 1980s,

Warner Bros. Animation Warner Bros. Animation Inc. is an American animation studio which is part of the Warner Bros. Television Studios division of Warner Bros., a flagship of Warner Bros. Discovery. As the successor to Warner Bros. Cartoons, which was active from 19 ...

started producing new theatrical animated shorts, featuring the ''

'' 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 precedes ...

'' (1988) were well-received individually. Both were then incorporated in the compilation film '' Daffy Duck's Quackbusters'' (1988). They marked a return to prominence for

fictional character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life perso ...

. They were followed by ''Box-Office Bunny'', the first theatrical short featuring

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 contains children or relates to them 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 ar ...

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, who introduced the pair in 1949. As in other shorts of the Road Runner ...

'' and '' Richie Rich'' (1994), '' Carrotblanca'' and '' The Amazing Panda Adventure'' (1995), ''Superior Duck'' to ''

Carpool Carpooling (also car-sharing, ride-sharing and lift-sharing) 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. By having more ...

'' (1996), and ''

Pullet Surprise ''Pullet Surprise'' is a 1997 7-minute ''Looney Tunes'' short released in theaters with ''Cats Don't Dance''. It was produced by Chuck Jones Film Productions.

'' to ''

Cats Don't Dance ''Cats Don't Dance'' is a 1997 American animated musical comedy-drama film directed by Mark Dindal (in his feature directorial debut). It is the only fully animated feature produced by Turner Feature Animation, which was merged during the post-p ...

'' (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.

Plot

The action takes place in a massive

movie theater A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall ( Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...

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

multiplex Multiplex may refer to: * Multiplex (automobile), a former American car make * Multiplex (comics), a DC comic book supervillain * Multiplex (company), a global contracting and development company * Multiplex (assay), a biological assay which measu ...

, constructed right above Bugs's rabbit hole. When Bugs surfaces within the theater,

usher Usher may refer to: Several jobs which originally involved directing people and ensuring people are in the correct place: * Usher (occupation) ** Church usher ** Wedding usher, one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony ** F ...

Elmer Fudd attempts to drive him away because Bugs did not purchase a ticket. Meanwhile, Daffy finds the admission fee of the multiplex to be too high for his tastes. He instead uses his

library card A library card can refer to several 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 library card ...

to force open a door and sneak inside. The would-be free rider stumbles on the usher, Elmer. To divert attention from his own illegal entry, Daffy drives Elmer to further focus on Bugs. He also joins forces with him 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, as in a movie theater; painted on the ...

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

slasher film A slasher film is a genre of horror films involving a killer stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed or sharp tools like knife, chainsaw, scalpel, etc. Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as ...

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 Drum ending, Daffy and Elmer break through the Drum 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. Since beginning his career in the 1980s, he has appeared in almost 400 roles. Cummings has frequently worked with The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros., including as t ...

as Actor in movie *

Tress MacNeille Teressa Claire MacNeille (née Payne; born June 20, 1951) is an American voice actress, whose credits include voicing Dot Warner on the animated television series '' Animaniacs'', Babs Bunny on ''Tiny Toon Adventures'', Chip and Gadget Hackwrenc ...

as Actress in movie

Reception

In his review of the film, 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 Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, director, and painter, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the '' Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He wrote, pro ...

without directly copying them. He found fault, however, with the concept of ending the film "at just over five minutes". In the result, all the action and gags have to be contained in too short a space. There is no real resolution.

Sources

References

External links

* {{Warner Bros. animation and comics 1991 films 1991 short films 1991 comedy films 1991 animated films 1990s American animated films 1990s animated short 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 animated short films