Scooby-Doo Is Heading To The Big Screen After All — Just Not In The U.S.

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.