Throughout the last decade, James Gunn has become known as one of the biggest filmmakers in the superhero genre in Hollywood. While bringing the Guardians of the Galaxy to life in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the writer/director has also brought other properties to the big screen throughout his career.
In 2002, Gunn wrote the live-action Scooby-Doo movie, based on a story by him and Craig Titley, and as the Halloween season is underway, the film is currently trending on streaming on HBO Max, sitting at #4 in the U.S. Directed by Raja Gosnell, the 2002 entry grossed $275.7 million at the worldwide box office, based on a $84 million dollar budget.
Currently at #1 is Weapons on HBO Max, followed by The Substance at #2, as well as Bring Her Back at #3. However, Scooby-Doo isn’t the only Gunn-related film that is performing well on the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned platform, as his Superman movie is trending at #5.
The Scooby-Doo cast featured Matthew Lillard as Shaggy Rogers, Sarah Michelle Gellar as Daphne Blake, Freddie Prinze Jr. as Fred Jones, and Linda Cardellini as Velma Dinkley, with Neil Fanning voicing the iconic dog. The success of the first film paved the way for Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed in 2004, which had Gosnell and Gunn return as director and writer, respectively.
Today, Gunn is the co-CEO for DC Studios, having launched the DC Universe franchise as a new superhero reboot across TV and film. He will next be directing the Man of Tomorrow movie for 2027, serving as a follow-up to Superman, which became 2025’s most successful comic book film at the box office.
While a new Scooby-Doo film isn’t in the works, Warner Bros. is actually rebooting the franchise in live-action, but this time through the small screen. Greg Berlanti, who created The CW’s Arrowverse franchise, is developing a series for Netflix based on the iconic Hanna-Barbera characters.
Netflix’s Scooby-Doo TV show got picked up to series on March 26, 2025, with Josh Appelbaum and Scott Rosenberg officially set as the showrunners. According to the streaming service, the live-action series will be a “modern reimagining,” with the synopsis reading as follows:
During their final summer at camp, old friends Shaggy and Daphne get embroiled in a haunting mystery surrounding a lonely lost Great Dane puppy that may have been a witness to a supernatural murder. Together with the pragmatic and scientific townie, Velma, and the strange, but ever so handsome new kid, Freddy, they set out to solve the case that is pulling each of them into a creepy nightmare that threatens to expose all of their secrets.
As 2002’s Scooby-Doo continues to stream on HBO Max, no release date has been revealed yet for the live-action reboot on Netflix, while casting for the leading roles has yet to happen.
- Release Date
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June 14, 2002
- Runtime
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87 minutes
- Director
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Raja Gosnell
- Producers
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Andrew Mason, Charles Roven, Joseph Barbera, Kelley Smith-Wait, Richard Suckle, Robert Engelman