Zoinks, Scoob! A New 'Scooby-Doo' Movie Starring Zac Efron & Amanda Seyfried Is Coming
Grab your Scooby Snacks and popcorn, because the Mystery Inc. gang is headed for the big screen. Scooby the dog is soon appearing in a new movie with his mystery-solving friends more than a decade after they last hit the silver screen. It's tempting to binge the original cartoon series in preparation for this, but the animated Scooby-Doo movie starring Zac Efron and Amanda Seyfried might just be the antidote for comparing new cartoons to our childhood favorites. Does this casting mean we can anticipate a High School Musical-Mamma Mia! singalong mashup when the gang solves a mystery?
Efron and Seyfried will appear in the animated Warner Bros. movie Scoob as the voices of Fred and Daphne, whose romantic connection was always loosely referred to throughout the original Hanna-Barbera cartoon series Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!. The characters' coziness even turned a little meta when real-life couple Freddie Prinze Jr. and Sarah Michelle Gellar played the roles in the 2002 live-action movie Scooby-Doo and its sequel. Given their close ties to each other, Fred the gang leader and Daphne the fashionista are perennially the parents among the group of crafty, sometimes dysfunctional teen detectives. Mystery hunters need Mom and Dad to reel them in sometimes, right?
With Efron and Seyfried attached, Scoob is slated for a May 2020 theatrical release. Also joining the cast are Gina Rodriguez as team brainiac Velma, Saturday Night Live alum Will Forte as the goofy Shaggy, and longtime Scooby Doo actor Frank Welker as Scooby. Tracy Morgan will also voice the character Captain Caveman, another Hanna-Barbera cartoon creation from the same era as Scooby-Doo.
According to Deadline, Scoob will follow the gang partnering with other Hanna-Barbera characters to save the world from Dick Dastardly, a villain who appeared in several cartoons released by the production company. Other Hanna-Barbera creations include The Flintstones, The Smurfs, and The Jetsons, just to name a few. It's too soon to say, but it looks like we can anticipate an epic cartoon crossover during Scoob. Can I book my seats at the theater now?
After the original Scooby-Doo cartoon aired from 1969 to 1970, another cartoon TV series premiered in 1972. Animated shorts, straight-to-video movies, and short-lived TV shows popped up in the following decades before the live-action Scooby movies premiered in 2002 and 2004. ICYMI, Cartoon Network even aired an updated series, Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!, from 2015 to 2018.
Everyone is obviously allowed to prefer one particular branch of the Scooby-Doo franchise, but it's good to know that regardless of age, many people have grown up with the lovable dog. Tony Cervone, who has a lengthy background in animation and Hanna-Barbera products, will direct this new take on the crime-solving Mystery Inc. gang. Scoob sounds like he's in great hands, and with Efron and Seyfried's Fred and Daphne keeping an eye on him, maybe he and Shaggy won't even run into trouble this time.
Hmm, OK, maybe not. But it's the loving thought that counts.
Scoob is expected in theaters on Friday, May 15, 2020.
