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Warner Brothers have in recent years got into the franchise game as they’re competing against Disney and so far they’ve got three main properties – DC Comics, LEGO and Harry Potter.
I’m still hoping the studio gets the rights to James Bond because they could make money in areas Sony couldn’t, but there’s one property they haven’t surprisingly touched in recent years on the big screen, Hanna-Barbera.
I think a lot of their characters would work as part of WB’s animation alongside WB’s sister studio New Line Cinema, but I do think there are at least two character's that could work in live action being Johnny Quest and Scooby Doo.
Using Warner Bros’ sister New Line, you could push a little more as it’ll have a small budget and $30-$60 million budget would be more than an enough to make an R-rated horror comedy.
I’m going with R-rated because the main audience who grew up with Scooby Doo are now in their mid-20s upwards and this was the original idea for the 2002 film with some tongue-in-cheek humour.
This would be the first big/well-known name and the probably the easiest character to cast.
Daphne would easily be the typical girl next door type and whoever be cast would have to either dye her hair red or wear a wig because similar to Mary Jane Watson in Spider-Man lore, Daphne’s her is an important part to the character.
This is actually a hard character to cast because it depends if you want to have the actor have the iconic Shaggy voice. It doesn’t matter to me as long as he was able to pull off the “Scooby Doo, where are you?” then it’s all good.
Finally, after giving it some thought this would be my live-action Scooby-Doo cast with James Gunn attached to direct.
Yes, I know there were Scooby Doo films back in the early 2000s, but with the likes of IT, Stranger Things and Riverdale being massive successes it would be (I believe) a smart move to bring the mystery gang back and this is how I’d do it.
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| IMAGE VIA THE CW NETWORK |
Using Warner Bros’ sister New Line, you could push a little more as it’ll have a small budget and $30-$60 million budget would be more than an enough to make an R-rated horror comedy.
Meanwhile, calling it Scooby Doo, Mystery Inc. would be a decent title and the same of the animated series which had a story arc and was kind of dark for a kid show. Plus, the title would separate it enough from the original 2002 & 2004 movies.
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I’m going with R-rated because the main audience who grew up with Scooby Doo are now in their mid-20s upwards and this was the original idea for the 2002 film with some tongue-in-cheek humour.
The focus should be on getting the first film to be the best it could possibly be but a trilogy would be in mind. Looking at the Mystery Inc animated series as a base with the early years of Scooby and the gang solving mysteries in their home of Crystal Cove aka the Most Hauntedest Place on Earth. As they solve the traditional monster cases, the gang also begin to look into the darker goings on in their hometown i.e a Court of Owls situation.
Director
Speaking of which, I’d be looking to bring James Gunn on board to direct the film his original screenplay which was R-rated and he’s clearly a massive fan of the characters.
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| JAMES GUNN SECOND FAR LEFT |
If Gunn couldn’t do the film then my other choices would be Annabelle Creation and Lights Out helmer David F. Sandberg or LEGO Batman’s Chris McKay. When it comes to Sandberg, he’s proven he can scare the crap out of people and his Twitter/Instagram account is brilliantly funny. On the other hand, McKay has proven with LEGO Batman he could make a funny, entertaining family film.
Both Sandberg and McKay are also apart of the WB family and their previous successes would give them some leeway. On the other hand, Gunn can just use his Guardians films to let the studio give him control of the project.
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I think all three directors would focus on mainly practical effects and generate general scares as well as bringing plenty of laughs.
Casting
Looking at the success of Riverdale, I’d be looking at bringing in a young cast, but with one or two well- known names to help sell it to audiences and critics. Also, the 2000’s cast was pretty decent and it’ll be had to find similarly perfect casting.
Fred Jones/Freddy
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| IMAGE VIA WARNER BROS |
This would be the first big/well-known name and the probably the easiest character to cast.
I’d go all out and see if Ansel Elgort would be interested because he’s got that old-school American boyish charm and look going for him and he showed he could be the hero in Baby Driver.
An even bigger shot, but if they got him then what a way to take this film seriously and that’s casting Zac Efron.
Elsewhere, if you wanted to go for more of an up-and-comer then maybe Douglas Booth (the British actor was brilliant in The Limehouse Golem) or Blake Jenner, who’s received decent reviews for his performance in Edge of Seventeen and Everybody Wants Some.
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Daphne Blake
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| IMAGE VIA WARNER BROS |
Daphne would easily be the typical girl next door type and whoever be cast would have to either dye her hair red or wear a wig because similar to Mary Jane Watson in Spider-Man lore, Daphne’s her is an important part to the character.
Elle Fanning would be an actress who could carry off the character easily and is in need of mainstream/ general audience profile similar to Hailee Steinfeld doing Bumblebee.
This would be unlikely to happen due to her similar role in Spider-Man and the MCU but Zendaya would be a brilliant Daphne Blake.
Velma Dinkley
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| IMAGE VIA WARNER BROS |
Similar to some of my choices for Daphne, I think Velma would be an ideal character for a person of colour or from a different country.
The first actress that came to mind is Karen Fukuhara, who hasn’t done much since her first role as Katana in Suicide Squad.
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Then I think this is one of the more obvious choices but Ariel Winter would be a good character to bring her to the big screen and make a career path outside of Modern Family.
This is more of a left-field pick, Ana de Armas is becoming more of a name thanks to Blade Runner 2049 and she as such a beautiful round face that she looks younger then she is.
If Samberg did direct the film, I’m sure Grace Fulton would be his Velma as the actress looks easily like the character. She starred in Annabelle: Creation and was recently announced they were working together again on Shazam! & wouldn't be a shout even without the Swedish director.
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| IMAGE VIA VARIETY/ MATT BARON/ REX/ SHUTTERSTOCK |
Shaggy Rogers
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| IMAGE VIA WARNER BROS |
This is actually a hard character to cast because it depends if you want to have the actor have the iconic Shaggy voice. It doesn’t matter to me as long as he was able to pull off the “Scooby Doo, where are you?” then it’s all good.
Shaggy and Scooby have been the gang's double act and be the main comic relief.
Due to his performance as Barry Allen in Justice League and his all-around personality that Ezra Miller would be a perfect Shaggy.
The other actor in mind was Thomas Brodie-Sangster.
Scooby-Doo
There’s one person who could and should voice Scooby and that’s Frank Welker.
Finally, after giving it some thought this would be my live-action Scooby-Doo cast with James Gunn attached to direct.
Oh, well! It was one good show of that time. I would still show it to my kids. It is good that we all have internet in today’s time. Finding old shows and good ones have become easy. I found shows by Andrew Yeatman online only and I love that my kids watch these shows now.
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