Editing Walter Lantz Productions (section)

=== 1947–1949: United Artists and first closure ===
In 1947, Lantz renegotiated his seven-year Universal contract with Matty Fox, the new vice-president of Universal. The deal was interrupted when new ownership transformed the company into Universal-International and did away with most of Universal's company policies. The new management insisted on getting licensing and merchandising rights to Lantz's characters. Lantz refused and withdrew from the parent company in 1947, vacated [[Universal City, California|Universal City]], moving into the former [[Screen Gems]] cartoon studio at 861 Seward Street in Hollywood<ref>https://www.scrappyland.com/blog/2019/03/03/the-861-seward-story/</ref> and releasing 12 cartoons independently through United Artists during 1947 and early 1949.

The cartoons from this period stand out for their slicker animation compared to the previous Universal releases, mostly because of the influence of the studio's latest director, Ex-Disney animator [[Dick Lundy (animator)|Dick Lundy]], as well as the addition of Disney veterans, such as [[Ed Love]] and [[Fred Moore (animator)|Fred Moore]]. This era also marked the end of the Andy Panda cartoons, whose popularity was waning.

Under the deal with United Artists, Lantz was supposed to receive percentages of box-office receipts to pay for the production costs of his cartoons. UA however attributed a tiny portion of the dollar amounts to Lantz's shorts from the features. This was because UA was, at the time, a struggling studio attempting to re-establish the position in the industry it had in the 1920s. The result was that Lantz exceeded his standing loan of $250,000 from [[Bank of America]] (he had left [[Irving Trust]] in 1942). At the recommendation of BAC president Joe Rosenberg, Lantz decided to shut down his studio temporarily at the end of 1949 until the loan was reduced. He asked Universal to reissue his older films during the hiatus, a request accepted by Universal president Nate Blumberg.

In the interim, Lantz made a series of film ads for Coca-Cola and introduced "The Woody Woodpecker Song" as the theme song for the character. He also went to Europe to look for studios that could animate his films there, approaching government incentives not found stateside, and lower labor costs. However, the postwar economic situation of these countries as well as the presence of stronger unions than in Hollywood led him to back out and keep making films in America.