Box Office Bunny is a 1991 Looney Tunes short directed by Darrell Van Citters.
Plot[]
A massive hundred-screen multiplex movie theater called Cineminium is constructed right above Bugs' rabbit hole. When Bugs surfaces within the theater, usher Elmer Fudd attempts to drive him away. Meanwhile, Daffy finds the admission fee of the multiplex to be too high for his tastes. He instead uses his 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 join forces with him against Bugs. Following a chase through the movie theater, Bugs traps his opponents within a projection screen and within the film depicted on it. In the slasher film, the trapped duo are confronted by a "hockey-mask wearing, chainsaw-wielding maniac." This scares Daffy and Elmer, and they try to escape. Bugs says, "It takes a miracle to get into pictures, and now these two jokers just wanna get out."
Daffy and Elmer break through the ending card in their attempt to escape the movie, and Bugs says, "And that's all, folks!"
Cast[]
- Jeff Bergman — Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd
- Billy West — Announcer
- Maurice LaMarche — Usher
- Jim Cummings — Actor in movie
- Tress MacNeille — Actress in movie
Background[]
In the late 1980s, Warner Bros. Animation started producing new theatrical animated shorts, featuring the Looney Tunes characters. "The Duxorcist" (1987) and "The Night of the Living Duck" (1988) were well-received individually. Both were then incorporated to the compilation film Daffy Duck's Quackbusters (1988).[1] They marked a return to prominence for Daffy Duck.[1] They were followed by "Box-Office Bunny", the first theatrical short featuring Bugs Bunny since 1964's "False Hare".[1]
According to director Darrell Van Citters, 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 (1990). The underperformance of the feature film at the box-office is thought to have negatively affected the fate of the short.[1]
Kevin Sandler believes the short set an unlucky pattern for subsequent releases. Later Looney Tunes shorts were similarly attached to children's films that under-performed, dragging the short film with them to relative obscurity for a while. He offers the examples of "Chariots of Fur" and Richie Rich (1994), "Carrotblanca" and The Amazing Panda Adventure (1995), "Superior Duck" to Carpool (1996), and "Pullet Surprise" to Cats Don't Dance (1997).[1] 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" films. 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.[1]
Availability[]
The Neverending Story 2: The Next Chapter
The Neverending Story 2: The Next Chapter
Bugs Bunny: Winner by a Hare: 14 of Bugs Bunny's Best
![(1996) VHS Carrotblanca (with 1997 Dubbed Version disclaimer)[2]](/wiki/File:CARROTBLANCA.jpg "CARROTBLANCA.jpg (50 KB)")
Special Bumper Collection (Vol. 8)
Looney Tunes VCD Compilation 1
Looney Tunes: The Collectors Edition, Vol. 11: Wabbit Tales
Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie
Streaming[]
Censorship[]
- When the cartoon was shown on ABC, the "That's all Folks" ending variant where Daffy and Elmer run screaming through the title card (in connection to the end gag where the two are trapped in a slasher flick with a chainsaw-wielding maniac after them), leaving a red background in the hole in which Bugs pops in to deliver the closing line.
Notes[]
- Happy Birthday Bugs: 50 Looney Years includes a clip from this short.
- This cartoon was shown in theaters with The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter.
- This was Warner Bros.' first new Bugs Bunny theatrical release since 1964's "False Hare". It was issued to commemorate Bugs' 50th anniversary.
- This is the first Looney Tunes short to not feature Mel Blanc as the voice of Bugs and Daffy, as he had died two years before its release. Jeff Bergman provided the voices of Bugs, Daffy and Elmer for this cartoon, having already voiced most of Blanc's characters on Tiny Toon Adventures.
- This is the first Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon short from the modern era to have entirely real scored original music (composed by Hummie Mann), as opposed to having its music score consist entirely of re-used music cues from the classic shorts by Carl Stalling and Milt Franklyn as in the previous two theatrical shorts, "The Duxorcist" and "The Night of the Living Duck".
- This cartoon has unique Color Rings: purple-green rings, orange background, blue shield.
- This short was previewed in Los Angeles in November 1990 with the film "Reversal of Fortune" to qualify for an Academy Award.[3]
Gallery[]
References[]
External links[]