Founded as a division of Hanna-Barbara, Cartoon Network Studios is poised to celebrate its 25th anniversary this year during the Annecy International Film Festival in June. Now under, Warner Bros. Animation, CNS largely keeps to producing nostalgia-driven new projects like the reboots of classic IPs like Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. Beyond that, you have things like Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake, a series spawned from what many expected to be a one-off special back in 2011, but has sparked its own spin-off going on two seasons.
As part of the celebration tons of legacy Cartoon Network staff are part of the Creating Creativity: Celebrating 25 Years of Cartoon Network Studios panel. This panel will celebrate the many years of the studio with Dexter's Lab's Genndy Tartakovsky, The PowerPuff Girls' Craig McCracken, Adventure Time's Pendleton Ward, Steven Universe's Rebecca Sugar, Regular Show's J.G. Quintel, and Fionna and Cake's Adam Muto all taking attendance. The panel will also showcase the future of the studio, too.
With this being such a big deal, we think fans can rest easy that Warner Bros. isn't looking to dismantle the brand in favor of bolstering their animation division. Obviously, people had valid worries that this legacy brand would go away following some bizarre decisions on WB's part.
Warner Bros. made the decision to close down the original Cartoon Network Studios location in favor of merging the two to some capacity back in 2023. Meanwhile, the charming game and episode-filled Cartoon Network website was shut down in favor of a redirect to Max. Moreover, tons of Cartoon Network programs, such as Teen Titans, Ed, Edd n’ Eddy, Teen Titans GO!, and The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy have all been pulled from Max's lineup.
Warner Bros., knows they can't just pull the whole CN branding, after all, it's very strong, even if its broadcast channel isn't as strong as it once was. That said, their sister channel, Adult Swim, continues to do numbers thanks to loyal fans and appealing to a demographic of anime fans, too. Overall, it has shows like Rick and Morty, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Robot Chicken, and more, that fans enjoy.
Considering how much WB is putting this forward, obviously, Cartoon Network Studios is still important to them, and while WB has a -- let's say -- iffy track record in positive decisions for animation fans. Yes, we're looking at the whole Coyote vs. Acme tax write-off thing, even though it ended up with a good ending.