In the original era when animated shorts preceded every feature film in theaters, Looney Tunes were the kings of the short-- there may be nothing better in the history of animation than the great Chuck Jones shorts starring Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. The battle between Disney and Warner Bros. animated shorts waged viciously in those days, but today it's a slam dunk-- Disney's Pixar puts out the best animated shorts moviegoers will see, while Bugs and company are remembered by kids somehow subjected to Space Jam and those who seek out the golden era classics.

Warner Bros. knows, though, that with a little tweaking those characters could be a goldmine once again, and though a new Looney Tunes animated series is part of the plan, they're bringing the 'toons back to theaters as well. The New York Times reports that three new 3-D animated shorts will start showing up in theaters before Warner Bros. film, with the first set to bow in front of Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore at the end of July.

The shorts will star Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, and the Times article was accompanied with the first image of a 3D coyote, which you can see above. It was inevitable that the Looney Tunes characters would get the 3D CGI treatment, since leaving them 2D and voiced by Mel Blanc wasn't really an option anymore. Kids who go to see Cats & Dogs will probably be meeting them for the first time-- but will those of us who grew up with the characters be able to adapt to their new look? I guess if we handled Tiny Toons Adventures, we can handle this.