A few months after its cancellation, director Michael Kurinsky reveals that Scoob! A holiday haunt has been completed, but will still not be published. The animated follow-up was set to be a prequel to the 2020 animated film reboot, which would explore the iconic Mystery Inc. gang in their younger years with Frank Welker, Iain Armitage, Ariana Greenblatt, Pierce Gagnon and Mckenna Grace all set to reprise their roles. Development and production were going smoothly until Scoob! A holiday haunt was dropped last August, but that hasn’t stopped the director from moving forward.
In a recent interview with VarietyMichael Kurinsky talked about Scoob! A holiday hauntcancellation. The director revealed he’s finished the film, despite it being deleted, but says that doesn’t mean the animated prequel will see the light of day anytime soon. See what Kurinsky explained below:
The reason we were able to complete this film is that it was already paid for. I can’t say it was [Warner Bros] saying, ‘Please finish this movie, we want it.’ I think it was more like, “Finish the movie because we paid to finish the movie.” At the end of the day, I don’t care why and how it ended. I’m glad it’s over because so many people have worked so hard to make something so beautiful and truly awesome. The thing that hasn’t changed here, regardless of whether we’re done with the picture, is that Warner Bros. Discovery cannot monetize this film now. To get that $40 million tax deduction, they can’t get any money out of it. So there’s no scenario where they can sell it, stream it, whatever. They just can’t, because any move they make would monetize it, and then they would lose their tax deduction.
Scoob! 2’s Shock Cancellation Explained
Scoob! A holiday hauntThe cancellation of left many viewers surprised, given the film’s ability to bring families to HBO Max and boost their subscription count. The decision largely stems from the Warner Bros. merger. Discovery, in which new CEO David Zaslav inherited $3 billion in debt from former studio chief Toby Emmerich, and sought to bring the studio back to exclusively theatrical releases, rather than expand their platforms streaming, as planned by its predecessor. Scoob! A holiday haunt wasn’t the only notable film to end up on the chopping block post-merger, with the DC Universe set bat girl also getting the axe, although it is also complete and tests well with the public.
As Kurinsky notes, even though WBD allowed him and his team to complete Scoob! A holiday haunt, the likelihood of the film ever seeing daylight remains slim to none. The main reason stems from the fact that by taking a tax deduction for shelving the film in favor of its release, the studio would ultimately owe the money if they ever tried to monetize it in the future. Given the original Scoob! flopped at the box office on its pandemic release and was only a modest hit on VOD, it’s understandable that the studio would rather accept the tax deduction than attempt to take a risk on its release.
Contrary to bat girl before that, however, it’s interesting to hear that Kurinsky and his team had the opportunity to complete Scoob! A holiday haunt, leaving some hopeful that the studio might one day change its mind about the possibility. Even if they don’t, the public won’t suffer for scooby-doo-related content in the near future, with Mindy Kaling’s Velma is set to premiere on HBO Max in early 2020 and bring an adult-focused approach to the franchise. In the meantime, the public can review the wide range of scooby-doo franchise available to stream on HBO Max now.
Source: Variety