Warner Bros’ Looney Tunes Loathing Has Leaped From the Digital to the Physical World

In Warner Bros. Discovery’s latest move seemingly targeting the famed studio’s cinema history, one of the original homes of the Looney Tunes is set to be demolished. This, coming right off the new regime’s scrubbing of the cartoons off the platform, is certainly not a good look.

It’s also bummer news in the aftermath of the studio’s mishandling of Coyote vs. Acme, which is currently still shelved but may find new life with Ketchup Entertainment, which recently distributed Warner Bros. Animation’s critically acclaimed and certified fresh on RT The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie. The majority of the studio’s classic animated shorts are currently streaming not on Max… but on Roku.

According to Deadline’s report, it sure seems like it’s the end of the building once lovingly referred to as Termite Terrace; as the trade reports, “Building 131 will be torn down to create more base camp space for the myriad HBO shows that are shooting on the lot.”

It’s truly a damn shame and sad day for fans of animation history. The building and its role in Looney Tunes history gets a shout-out on the WB Studio Tour as the tram passes by; visitors are told it’s the cartoons’ original home and that it currently houses production offices of TV shows.

Make that soon to be past-tense: “The nondescript building, which is located in the far corner of the lot off of Forest Lawn Drive, will not be replaced,” Deadline writes.

Its not entirely surprising that Building 131 is being discarded despite its significance to animation history, much like the Cartoon Network building in Burbank which was sold not long ago. The one-level bungalow building’s nickname, Termite Terrace, came from animators who worked in it; at one time, a termite infestation left many Looney Tunes cartoon short cels smeared with termite outlines. The name stuck because it suited the chaotic energy of creating the antics of the Tunes for its makers.

It also served as the the main hub for the Friz Freleng era of the Looney Tunes cartoons, and is the exact location where related productions such as The Bugs Bunny Show (1960) were originally made. It was also the place where Looney Tunes animator Chuck Jones made his last short, “From Hare to Eternity,” according to Looney Tunes history platform Of Course You Realize This Means Podcast (full disclosure: my partner is the producer and host).

For the studio’s mascot figures it appears the brass is only pushing Bugs Bunny, Tweety, and the rest of the Tunes‘ likenesses for merchandising interests only. In an odd twist, the second half of Steven Spielberg and Amblin’s Tiny Toons: Looniversity season two was added to Max this week after an erratic prior release schedule. Upcoming projects based on the the Looney Tunes universe IP haven’t been announced.

io9 reached out to Warner Bros. for comment about Building 131 being targeted for demolition, and will update this post if we hear back.

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