Warner Bros. Promises New Scooby-Doo
After a not-so-brief foray into the live-action realm, Scooby-Doo is getting another chance to make big bucks at the box-office in animated form.
I say "not-so-brief" because, believe it or not, four live-action Scooby-Doo movies were made including the (sort of) star-studded original from 2002 which saw Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. proudly kick the infernal Scrappy-Doo out of the Mystery Machine once and for all. The film was no masterpiece and critics didn't exactly kneel to it, praising its every frame, but it was harmless enough and, at times, rather fun so add to that the fact that people were curious about how a Scooby movie would even work and flocked to it and you've got yourself a very healthy box-office hit.
The same cast would reunite for sequel Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, which also did respectably well in theatres before jumping ship and letting a new bunch take over the franchise for two straight-to-TV/DVD movies you and me never saw.
But it all began with animation for the cowardly canine and that seems to be where Warner Bros. want to take the franchise back to. With the producers of the live-action films heading the project and Tony Cervone (of Scooby-Doo! and KISS: Rock and Roll Mystery fame) directing, this appears to be heading towards a fancy-looking 2D (likely 3D) presentation rather than a Pixar-style CG fest.
One wonders, however, if there is still an audience for Scooby-Doo. After all, Hanna-Barbera Productions first brought the cartoon to our screens way back in 1969 and betting on whether this new generation of parents have introduced their kids to the old/new shows or not could be a gamble. Then again it's not like younger audiences will need much backstory to understand what's going on in a Scooby-Doo movie or who is who so it might be a bet worth taking for Warner Bros.
Another potential concern would be the fact that Scooby-Doo has always existed on television in cartoon form and feature-length animated adventures starring the Scooby gang are hardly rare so a new big-screen release in (take a deep breath) 2018 could possibly receive a lukewarm yeah-just-stick-it-on-Netflix-already response.
While the world will no doubt keep turning minus a new Scooby-Doo movie, there's something comforting about knowing that an animated series many of us enjoyed as kids could be introduced to a new generation of movie-goers in its original form. Why The Jetsons have still not enjoyed the movie treatment even the likes of The Flintstones and Mr Magoo have enjoyed in the past is beyond me, though. Here's hoping the new feature(s) will indulge in some nifty Avengers-esque merging.
Some would say that director Kevin Smith got to the live-action Scooby-Doo game first and did it best in his 2001 comedy Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back when the Scooby gang cameoed, picking up the titular duo in their Mystery Machine before smoking not cigarettes with entertaining consequences.
Some would even say an animated Scooby-Doo/Jay and Silent Bob feature crossover would be better than anything Warner Bros. are planning but hey, what do I know?
Must be the Scooby Snacks talking...
