The Warner Bros. Discovery merger brought about bad news for many projects that were in the works. Given its high budget along with the fact that it had already finished filming, Batgirl getting pulled from release came as a particularly big shock. The animated prequel Scoob! Holiday Haunt was in a similar situation, as the filmmakers were deep into post-production when they got the news that the movie would be shelved. Because Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt are being written off for tax purposes by the company, they cannot legally be released unless Warner Bros. Discovery pays that money back to the government.
With all of that said, producer and co-writer Tony Cervone, who helmed the original Scoob!, felt it important to finish the film regardless. Earlier this month, Cervone revealed that post-production has since been wrapped, as the filmmakers continued to work on Scoob! Holiday Haunt whether or not it would be released. Now, director Michael Kurinsky, who was to make his directorial debut with the film, has offered some further clarification on why the movie was completed even with such low hope of having fans ever see it.
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First, here’s what Kurnisky said about just how close the film already was to wrapping, per Variety.
Scoob! Holiday Haunt: Will It Ever Be Released?
Warner Bros. Pictures
According to Kurinsky, he happened to be in a meeting related to the film when he received a text message from a stranger asking him if the news was true. At the time, he’d gotten no indication whatsoever from Warner Bros. Discovery that the cancelation would be happening, so he didn’t know what to make of it. He explains how he was then told that the news must have leaked, and to make matters worse, he was also informed that there was pretty much no chance the movie would ever see any kind of release.
Kurinsky laments how the filmmakers had taken on this project two years ago with a promise to get it done by a certain date. With the film finished, they managed to complete that goal, for what it’s worth. For his part, Kurinsky found it better to finish the film, as everyone had already been paid for their work. And he’s still finding ways to be proud of what everyone has accomplished to make the movie, even if fans cannot watch it.
Scoob! Holiday Haunt had been scheduled to be released on HBO Max on Dec. 22, 2022. Kurinsky highly doubts that the prequel will ever get a release for as long as Discovery is a part of Warner Bros. Realistically, he doesn’t expect things to change, but he hasn’t given up all hope on having the movie one day see a release.
