Scooby-Doo Is Returning To The Big Screen In 2018

The two live-action Scooby-Doo films always confused me as a kid for a number of reasons; for one thing, as a young animation and Hanna-Barbara buff, I was always curious why Frank Welker couldn't come back to voice the titular pooch. Not the new guy did notably bad work as the hungry canine, but would it be too much to ask to get a talented guy like Welker to come aboard the project? Other notable queries that I wondered when watching the movies included why the movies went for actual scares instead of just goofiness and who on Earth was this wooden guy playing Fred.

I haven't revisited the films since my youth, and given my lackluster memories of those movies, I don't feel compelled to (though at least the second movie spawned a kick-ass Game Boy Advance video game). I have been surprised that Warner Bros. has let a lucrative property like Scooby-Doo linger on the big screen for so long considering they'll even give Point Break another go, but it looks like our nationwide Scooby-Doo famine will cease come September 21, 2018.

That's the release date that Warner Bros. has slated for a new fully animated Scooby-Doo movie from Warner Animation Group. Tony Cervone, who has directed several direct-to-video Scooby-Doo features as well as four episodes of Back to The Barnyard, is directing this new Scooby-Doo film, while Dan Povenmire, who created Phineas & Ferb, is also onboard as an executive producer. No other details on a plot or cast (I suspect they'll get celebrities to play the Mystery Inc. gang like the last two theatrical Scooby-Doo features) right now, but I am actually interested to see what animation style they use in the film. 

It'll be computer-generated animation like the majority of Amercian animation these days, but, considering how a recent Warner Bros. animated film, The LEGO Movie, went for a unique style of animation meant to evoke stop-motion, I wonder if this new film will use CGI to pay homage to the Hanna-Barbara cartoons of yore (which I assume would include using the same background on an infinite loop during the film). I'm sure we'll more details over the next three years as the film begins to take form. All I know right now is that it won't be hard to top those two aforementioned live-action movies, but it will be difficult to surpass direct-to-video Scooby-Doo efforts like Scooby-Doo And The Alien Invaders and the Tim Curry starring feature Scooby-Doo And The Witch's Ghost.