OH GOD, PLEASE NO!!!!!!!!!!

[J320]

"Scooby" Sequel in the Works
by Josh Grossberg
Jun 18, 2002, 2:35 PM PT

It seems you can teach an old dog new tricks after all.

After foiling their first whodunnit on the big screen, those darn kids--Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy--and their cowardly canine will be back form more sleuthing: Warner Bros. has announced it's already working on a Scooby-Doo sequel.

Excited Warners execs made the announcement on Monday, after tallying the flick's zoinks-worthy weekend receipts.

"The franchise is beginning," Warner Bros. distribution president Dan Fellman tells Daily Variety. Fellman says the studio has greenlighted a sequel slated for a 2004 release. But he provided few clues about the next installment, save the studio's desire to see the film's original director and cast return for another go-round in the Mystery Machine.

Scooby-Doo was helmed by Raja Gosnell (Never Been Kissed, Big Momma's House) and stars Freddie Prinze Jr. as the blond ascot-sporting jock Fred, Sarah Michelle Gellar as ditzy Daphne, Linda Cardellini as bespectacled smart girl Velma, Matthew Lillard as goateed cowardly hippie Shaggy and a computer-generated Scoob. Fellman didn't say if any of the Scoobsters were contractually obligated for a return engagement, but E! Online movie columnist Anderson Jones reports all the talent is signed for the sequel.

Despite generally scary reviews, the first live-action adaptation of the classic kids 'toon (minus the drug references) saw Scoob and the gang collar $54.2 million weekend at the box office, the second-biggest June opening ever, falling just short of the $54.9 million bounty collected in 1999 by New Line's Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. The lovable Great Dane with a phobia for ghosts gobbled up more than twice the green as the nearest competitor, the spy thriller The Bourne Identity starring Matt Damon.

"Certainly the success of the opening exceeds our highest expectations," says Fellman.

Better than a Scooby snack, you might say.

With such a hot property on its hands, AOL-Time Warner suits are chomping at the bit to exploit the computer-generated pooch and his human pals through a massive merchandising blitz and tie-ins with the company's Cartoon Network, which already airs the classic animated Hanna-Barbera series on which the movie's based, Scooby-Doo Where Are You?

The answer, of course, is everywhere. Aside from the reruns and a spate of newly issued DVDs and videos, there will be a new Scooby animated series debuting on the Kids' WB network this fall. That will be the fourth TV incarnation of the Mystery Inc. bunch since their 1969 debut on CBS.

With such a huge catalog of material to work with, plots shouldn't be hard to come by for any subsequent Scooby-Doo films. We'd like to offer some suggestions of our own before the world goes to the, um, dog:

The Mystery Machine accidentally hits a hitchhiker in I Know What Scooby Did Last Summer. And Shaggy, aka Lillard, did it, just like in Scream.
Shaggy and Scooby get locked in a haunted ice cream factory and are chased by two oddball spirits--who turn out to be Ben & Jerry hepped up on Nutty Wafflecone.
Fred and Daphne have a big fight and break up after Daphne hooks up with Space Ghost.
Velma gives up sleuthing to become a full-time groupie of Josie and the Pussycats.
Puppy power unleashed. Scrappy gets rabies. Think Cujo meets Old Yeller.

[giggles8D]

please no....stop the madness!!!

[TheOneRing]

Thats just c**p isnt it!