Director Peter Browngardt looked to the films of Ed Wood as he put Daffy Duck and Porky Pig right in the middle of a secret extraterrestrial mind control plot in the all-new animated sci-fi action comedy, coming to U.S. theaters February 28.
Extraterrestrial encounters have been part of the Looney Tunes universe for many decades. From the Haredevil Hare short’s Marvin the Martian (1948) to Space Jam’s The Nerdlucks (1996) and Duck Dodgers’ Queen Tyr'ahnee and baby Mot (2003), who also appeared in the Merrie Melodies short Rocket-bye Baby in 1956, animation at Warner Bros. has not shied away from leaving Earth to find cartoon humor.
So, when Looney Tunes Cartoons’ Peter Browngardt was asked by Warner Bros. if he had any ideas for a feature film, sci-fi was the first thing that came to mind. He was soon at work on The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie. The film is now scheduled for theatrical release in the U.S. by Ketchup Entertainment on February 28, 2025.
“I guess it's kind of a looney idea to think about meeting an alien or interacting with creatures from another planet or another world,” says the director. “I knew I wanted to make it a sci-fi B movie. I pitched it as ‘What if Ed Wood made a Looney Tunes movie?’ And, surprisingly, Warner Bros. went for it.”
The famed Ed Wood (or Edward Davis Wood Jr.) was responsible for cinematic gems like Plan 9 from Outer Space (1956), Night of the Ghouls (1958), Orgy of the Dead (1965), and Necromania (1971). From 1971 to 1972, Wood directed an unknown number of short X-rated films; he also directed and starred, with Bela Lugosi, in 1953’s Glen or Glenda, considered by many to be one of the worst movies ever made.
“Most of the time, when you mention Ed Wood in a pitch, people go, ‘Well, I don't know if we want to make an Ed Wood movie,’” shares Browngardt. “But I did, and we got greenlit about a year later.”
But fear not, The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie doesn’t have any undead orgies. But there are plenty of butts, alien tonging and other “looney” interactions.
In the sci-fi buddy action comedy penned by Kevin Costello, Porky Pig and Daffy Duck turn into unlikely heroes when their antics at the local bubble gum factory uncover a secret alien mind control plot to take over the Earth. Against all odds, the two are determined to work together, with Petunia Pig, to save their town, and the world! That is, if they don't drive each other crazy in the process.
Check out the trailer:
Eric Bauza (Looney Tunes Cartoons) voices Porky and Daffy alongside Candi Milo (Tiny Toons Looniversity) as Petunia Pig and Peter MacNicol (Numb3rs) as the alien Invader. Browngardt directs and executive produces for Warner Bros. Animation, while Alex Kirwan (Looney Tunes Cartoons) acts as supervising producer.
“I like sci-fi,” says Browngardt. “It's one of my favorite genres of film. It also gives you a parody angle. It’s universally known there are a lot of sci-fi tropes and Looney Tunes is a lot of parody and satire.”
He adds, “It’s also just a funny idea that Daffy Duck and Porky Pig are going to have to interact with aliens. Duck Dodgers was definitely an inspiration for this. And not only Duck Dodgers, but Porky and Daffy were in many genre cartoons from the classic Looney Tunes – like Deduce, You Say! and Rocket Squad–and played cowboys, detectives, space rangers, and all that. They’re also one of the few Looney Tunes characters who aren't trying to kill each other or eat each other. They're more buddy comedy.”
The film not only marks Pete’s directorial debut, but it's also the first original, fully animated feature film of the Looney Tunes franchise to receive a worldwide theatrical release, having first premiered at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 11, 2024. And, after its seven-day-long screening run in Los Angeles last week, it’s now eligible for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
“It's very humbling to be associated with such iconic characters in animation history, and the great directors that created these characters and made some of the greatest comedy shorts of all time,” says Browngardt. “We tried our best to honor these characters and bring some of our new flavor to the Looney Tunes characters and humor of the Looney Tunes universe. It’s very rewarding for not only myself as the director of the film and co-writer, but for a lot of people on the film. We put together a crew of artists that love this stuff, love these characters, and we worked our hardest to honor them.”
Browngardt shares that one of the biggest challenges – in addition to creating a production pipeline that would produce high-quality animation that could still stand next to the classic-era Looney Tunes shorts – was creating an emotionally-driven film with Looney Tunes characters at the center of the story.
“We didn't want it to be super heavy handed, because it’s Daffy Duck and Porky Pig,” he notes. “But we wanted an emotional tale that our audience could latch on to and would hold up over 90 minutes of storytelling.”
Porky and Daffy may not be known for their dramatic, Shakespearean acting, but they’ve been beloved for over 80 years and Browngardt leaned into the traits that have given them such longevity.
“The characters are so relatable and funny, and their personalities are so defined, that the audience can instantaneously get it,” he says. “It speaks to all cultures. It's the characterizations. The Looney Tunes shorts and characters are the greatest characters in animation history. They speak to the inherent truths of humanity and that's why they resonate so much. They are masterpieces of animation and character performance.”
The film does include a nostalgic Looney Tunes shorts montage, R.E.M. song montage and even starts out the story with another classic Looney Tunes character: Farmer Jim. There’s no shortage of homage to classics in Browngardt’s movie.
“It is fun because we worked in a lot of different styles and each little section was like a little tent pole to set up and track through the film,” he says. “It's been a long road, but very rewarding to have this opportunity to release it to the world.”
In addition to Looney Tunes Cartoons, Browngardt has been a part of many top-tier cartoon productions in the past, from Adventure Time to SpongeBob SquarePants. But directing a film that will mark history for Chuck Jones’ characters is, in Browngardt’s words, “definitely a dream come true.”
“To be honest, something I made just being mentioned in an award season is pretty crazy to me,” he admits. “I don't think comedies get recognized in the awards well enough, and I think they're some of the hardest films to make. But I love to laugh. I love comedy. It's my favorite thing about going and being in a communal experience of a movie theater. So, if this movie brings that joy to people, I feel like I did my job as a filmmaker and a director and a lover of comedy and humor.”
Victoria Davis is a full-time, freelance journalist and part-time Otaku with an affinity for all things anime. She's reported on numerous stories from activist news to entertainment. Find more about her work at victoriadavisdepiction.com.
