Scoob! arrived on VOD over the weekend, allowing fans and families to tuck into the first big budget Scooby-Doo movie in 16 years. That wasn’t the only appeal, though, as the animated film is also stuffed full of other classic Hanna-Barbera characters. Alongside Mystery Incorporated themselves – Fred (Zac Efron), Daphne (Amanda Seyfried), Velma (Gina Rodriguez), Shaggy (Will Forte) and Scooby (Frank Welker) – there’s the likes of Blue Falcon (Mark Wahlberg), Dynomutt (Ken Jeong), Captain Caveman (Tracey Morgan) and Dee-Dee Sykes (Kiersey Clemons).
As you’d imagine, Warner Bros. has big plans for Scoob! to be expanded into a new franchise, assuming it does well. This is something that the filmmakers behind it are excited for, too. In an interview with Den of Geek, director Tony Cervone talked about how he saw Scoob! not just as an adaptation of the Scooby-Doo world, but as a whole other alternate universe populated by HB creations.
“I do feel like this Hanna-Barbera universe is kind of a separate universe and acts as its own thing,” Cervone said. “So we were able to be like, ‘We’re gonna create an alternate universe where all these things can happen.’ That gave us some liberty, but we tried really hard to maintain the things that we already love about the characters, and then do more because you have to do both. You have to honor the past and honor our collective memory while also having to do something new.”
Animation lead Bill Haller likewise expressed his interest in seeing spinoffs for Captain Caveman and Blue Falcon and his crew, whether they be movies or new TV series. All in all, Haller thinks the aim is to make sure that these iconic characters survive for another half a century and beyond.
“I kind of want to spend more time with those kids and tell those early stories,” Haller adds. “I love Captain Caveman, I think that guy could have his own movie. I think Brian, Dynomutt, and Dee Dee could have their own series. I want to see more of the Falcon Force. I want to watch that team grow because there’s definitely, even in the credits at the end, you could see that the team is growing. This franchise that has been around for 50 years and my hope is that it will still be going in 50 years from now and in 100 years someone will be making a new Scooby-Doo movie.”
Like Haller reminds us, the movie’s post-credits scene promised that even more of your childhood favorites are out there in the Scoob! universe, waiting to have bigger roles in future installments. Whether it’ll prove popular enough to spawn a franchise remains to be seen, but the film’s strong performance over the weekend – it hit number one on VOD charts quicker than Trolls World Tour – certainly bodes well.
Unfortunately, reviews have been less kind, with many criticizing WB for trying to build a universe instead of just telling a fun Scooby-Doo story. Fans also have mixed feelings about it, but we’ll have to see where it goes from here.