Jul 1, 2020

Scooby Doo is heading to the big screen after all - not just in the United States

The goofy Great Dane may have not gotten his bigscreen turn in the United States or Canada, but Warner Bros. has confirmed that Scoob! will get a theatrical rollout in some countries.

Tony Cervone's Scooby-Doo spin-off will first hit cinemas on July 8 in France, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Theatrical releases in other countries will follow. Meanwhile, the film is out today on PVOD in Australia and New Zealand, and on July 10 in the U.K.

Scoob! was initially meant to come out in American theaters on May 15, but as they were almost all shut then, Warner Bros. opted for a PVOD release on the same date instead. Unlike Universal's Trolls World Tour, which on April 10 came out simultaneously on PVOD and the few theaters that were still open, Scoob! was exclusive to online. Its marketing, which included a viral Tiktok campaign, reflected this.

Whether for this or other reasons, Scoob! avoided the backlash from the exhibition sector that greeted Trolls World Tour. Theater owners were possibly glad to avoid the direct comparison in earnings that a simultaneous release would have set up (however skewed that comparison would have been by the scarcity of functioning cinemas).

In any case, the hybrid international rollout is a different matter. As things stand, no territory is getting Scoob! both in theaters and on PVOD, so audiences won't be choosing. The strategy says more about the varying severity of the pandemic across countries. France's cinemas reopened on June 22, and have seen an impressive turnout in the circumstances; the U.K.'s remain shut.

Even so, this remains a highly unusual approach for a tentpole animated feature, and the film's relative performance in different markets will be pored over at Warner Bros. - and outside, if the studio chooses to release the data. (In the U.S., the film is now streaming on HBO Max.)

Meanwhile, Trolls World Tour hasn't finished its theatrical run. It ranked seventh at the American box office this weekend, taking all of $138,000 (estimated). It is also among the 450 titles set to be shown in U.K. theaters when they reopen - probably on July 4.