Aside from “Batgirl,” one of the most notable victims of Warner Bros. Discovery’s cost-cutting measures was the animated sequel “Scoob! Holiday Haunt”.
On August 2nd, the studio abruptly pulled the $40 million-budgeted film from a planned HBO Max release this Christmas and permanently shelved it – killing off two years of work by co-directors Michael Kurinsky and Bill Haller.
At the time, this sequel to 2020’s “Scoob!” was still in need of around eight more weeks of work to be finished. Now Kurinsky, speaking with Variety, says the project was completely finished as of last Friday.
He says at the time of the project’s shelving, they had a few hundred shots that “needed to be finished, lit, rendered and then approved”.
Kurinsky revealed he found out about the news in a Twitter message he received from a stranger, and Warners wasn’t able to call by the time the news had leaked. They then explained the situation about the film becoming a tax write-off. Despite the shelving, Kurinsky and his team finished the movie:
“The reason we were able to finish this movie is that it was already paid for. I can’t say it was [Warner Bros] saying, ‘Please finish this movie, we want you to.’ I think it was more like, Finish the movie because we’ve paid to finish the movie.’
At the end of the day, I don’t care why and how it got finished. I’m glad it got finished because so many people worked so hard to make something so beautiful and really great.”
The team toiled for weeks to finish, even knowing the finished product would likely never be seen and with Kurinsky “trying to be the best cheerleader I could” even as he “was really hurting inside”.
Though complete, general audiences likely won’t get to see “Scoob! Holiday Haunt” because Warner Bros. Discovery cannot monetize this movie now, with Kurinsky saying:
“There is no scenario where they can sell it, stream it, anything… I think as long as Discovery owns Warner Bros., I don’t think anything can and will happen with this movie. To me, I feel like as long as it’s Warner Bros. Discovery, it does not seem likely that there’s a way around it.”
The team went from a two-page outline to a completed film in two years, and he reveals the film would see the mystery gang (all still young kids) getting to know each other and going on a Christmas trip to meet Fred’s uncle Ned who owns a holiday-themed resort.
Iain Armitage, Mark Hamill, Cristo Fernández, Ming Na-Wen and Frank Welker lent their voices to the project.
