To celebrate the 80th anniversary of the iconic American cartoon character Bugs Bunny, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will release a three-disc Blu-ray set containing 60 theatrical shorts produced between 1940 and 1964. The package will be released on November 3, 2020.
What’s in the set? Don’t expect a Criterion-like treatment from Warner Bros. for these animated classics. Besides the 60 restored and remastered shorts (full list below), the package includes a Bugs Bunny glitter Funko figure, a new documentary, 10 episodes of HBO Max’s new Looney Tunes Cartoons, and an introductory letter from Looney Tunes historian (and Cartoon Brew co-founder) Jerry Beck.
What’s missing? A whole lot. If there was ever a time to release all 160-plus Bugs Bunny theatrical shorts, a major anniversary like this would have been the right occasion. As it is, WB is offering up a hodegpodge of shorts that’s missing over 100 Bugs Bunny theatricals. Unlike Disney, which methodically released its short film library on the Walt Disney Treasures dvd sets, WB has never deemed the output of its animation studio worthy of the respect that the films deserve, and the entire library of theatrical shorts has never been released on dvd or Blu-ray.