Every dog has its...trey?
Not satisfied with just one sequel for Scooby-Doo headed into production, Warner Bros. is already prepping a third installment of its burgeoning franchise featuring the scaredy-cat, Scooby snack-jonesing pooch and his mystery-solving human sidekicks.
According to trade reports, the studio has tapped the writing team of Dan Forman and Paul Foley to pen Scooby-Doo 3. The duo gets the job after completing work on a draft script of another popular 'toon being prepped for the big-screen treatment, The Jetsons. The scribes have also sold a fairy-tale spec script titled The Fraud Prince to the studio.
No word on what haunted abandoned mansion those nosy kids will be snooping around in this time--the story line's still a mystery. (Jeepers, perhaps a cameo by Scooby-Dum or Shaggy's uncle is in order.)
With the third installment still on the very early drawing board, there's no immediate confirmation on whether director Raja Gosnell (Never Been Kissed, Big Momma's House) and his human stars Freddie Prince Jr. (Fred), Sarah Michelle Gellar (Daphne), Linda Cardellini (Velma) and Matthew Lillard (Shaggy) will be back to do the Doo for a third go-around--although all are reportedly aboard for the the currently in-the-works first sequel and had clauses in their original contracts for more sleuthing.
There won't be any problem convincing the film's main attraction, the Scoobster, to hop back in the Mystery Machine, since he's a computer-generated canine.
The initial Scooby sequel was announced by Warners immediately following Scooby-Doo's blockbuster opening in June. According to the Greg's Previews movie-scoop Website, writer James Gunn, who's scripting the second installment, is toying with the title Scooby Too, while certain studio suits prefer Scooby-Deux. Shooting is expected to begin in spring 2003 for a 2004 release.
Despite critics who slammed it for being all bark and no bite, Scooby-Doo scored a super-duper $54.2 million debut weekend, the second biggest June opening ever (just behind the $54.9 million bounty for 1999's Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me). Scoob and the gang went on to gobble up a zoinks-worthy $153 million at the domestic box office. The DVD and video was released last Friday.
Considering the enduring popularity of the cartoon series, the movie's subsequent marketing deals with the likes of Coca-Cola and General Mills and two big-screen sequels in the pipeline, we can safely say that the Hollywood world is going to the dogs...or at least one Great Dane in particular.