Looney Tunes: Back in Action is a 2003 American live-action/animated comedy film produced and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.

It is the second fully original theatrical feature film in the Looney Tunes franchise, and was directed by Joe Dante from a screenplay by Larry Doyle.

They accompany aspiring stuntman DJ Drake (Fraser) and Warner Bros. executive Kate Houghton (Elfman) on their journey to thwart the Chairman's plot, which doubles as a mission to rescue the former's abducted father, Damian (Dalton).

It was originally developed as a direct sequel titled Spy Jam, which was intended to include Jackie Chan in the lead role.

Weary of playing villainous roles in Bugs Bunny's cartoons, Daffy Duck demands his own animated film, but is instead fired by Vice President of Comedy Kate Houghton.

Damian tells DJ to travel to Las Vegas, contact his associate Dusty Tails, and find the blue monkey diamond.

In Las Vegas, DJ and Daffy meet Dusty in a casino owned by Yosemite Sam, who is employed by Acme.

The group travels to Africa and meet Granny, Sylvester, and Tweety, who escort them to the ruins of a jungle temple containing the blue monkey.

Mr. Chairman teleports everyone to the Acme headquarters and tricks DJ into giving him the diamond in exchange for Damian's release.

DJ and Kate rescue Damian from a death trap, while Bugs and Daffy chase Marvin into space.

As development began, the film's plot was going to involve a new basketball competition with Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes against a new alien villain named Berserk-O!.

Joe Pytka would have returned to direct and Spike Brandt and Tony Cervone signed on as the animation supervisors.

According to Dante, a "problem" occurred when the studio executives grew tired of the film's jokes and wanted them to be changed.

As a result, the studio brought in twenty-five gag writers to try to write jokes that were short enough for the voice actors to dub into an animated character's mouth.

[9] Looney Tunes: Back in Action was released on November 14, 2003, originally planned to open earlier that summer.

[10][11] Warner Bros. was hoping to start a revitalized franchise of Looney Tunes media and products with the success of Back in Action.

However, due to the film's financial failure, the Looney Tunes franchise remained primarily on television for nearly two decades.

Warner Home Video released Looney Tunes: Back in Action on VHS and DVD on March 2, 2004.

The website's critics consensus reads: "The plot is a nonsensical, hyperactive jumble and the gags are relatively uninspired compared to the classic Looney Tunes cartoons.

[15] Chicago Sun-Times critics Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper gave the film "Two Thumbs Up"; Roeper called it a "cheerful and self-referential romp blending animation with live action in a non-stop quest for silly laughs", while Ebert called it "goofy fun".

Xbox and Microsoft Windows versions of the video game were planned, but were cancelled because of the financial failure of the film.