A new Scooby Doo reboot and shared Hanna-Barbera movie universe is in the pipeline
Looks like we've got another mystery on our hands, gang
Marvel have a lot to answer for. While their superhero movies have generally proved entertaining and fun, the success of their “shared movie universe” (where characters from different films exist in the same reality and can interact) has had rival studios scrabbling to catch up.
First there was DC’s own slate of superhero films, then Universal wanted a shared “Monsters” universe for Dracula and co, then Columbia decided to have their Ghostbusters mix with other teams and THEN Warner Bros revealed they were going to have Godzilla and King Kong hang out.
Now the latest increasingly weird attempt at this has been revealed by Warner Bros (again) – a cinematic universe based around the classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons, including Scooby Doo, the Flintstones, The Smurfs, Top Cat, The Jetsons and Wacky Races.
The announcement was made yesterday at industry trade show CinemaCon, including that this shared universe will begin with a Scooby Doo reboot named S.C.O.O.B. in 2018.
Currently no other films in this endeavour have release dates yet (the presentation noted that S.C.O.O.B. would be “our first shot at unlocking the whole Hanna-Barbera Universe.”), though according to SlashFilm some concept art was shown of the characters interacting.
Also, there’s this Flintstones/Jetsons crossover episode from the classic run of those series, which we can only assume will be adapted into a three-part epic by 2023.
To sum up, in a few years you could be seeing TC and Dick Dastardly don Yogi Bear costumes to try to scare Daphne in the town of Bedrock. Welcome to the modern world of cinema, everyone.
S.C.O.O.B. will be released in September 2018
Authors
Huw Fullerton is a Commissioning Editor for Radio Times magazine, covering Entertainment, Comedy and Specialist Drama.
