WB does not publish official sales figures for direct-to-video films. However, I recently found a site that seems to be reliable that has estimated sales numbers for some of the Scooby-Doo DTVs. The site shows Abracadabra Doo made 4.5 million dollars in DVD and Blu-Ray sales, and Camp Scare and Curse of the Lake Monster have made 3.5 million dollars. Some of the recent DTVs, on the other hand, have not done nearly as well. The site shows Happy Halloween to have made about $600,000, and Sword and the Scoob made $900,000. Straight Outta Nowhere and Trick or Treat made $400,000, which is a tenth of what Abracadabra Doo sold. While I am still bummed out that David Zaslav has been cancelling so much Scooby content, this site seems to shine a bit of light on why. If these figures are accurate, Scooby-Doo films were only making 10% of what they did 10 years ago, so WB was not making much money off of them. You can navigate through the numbers on the site here, but only a select amount of Scooby-Doo films and DTVs are included. It also shows the box office for the first two live action films, and shows that Monsters Unleashed (180 million) made only 2/3 of the amount of money that the first film (27 million) made.
60 Comments
Mr Neither
4/24/2023 07:54:36 am
The thing is though that is DVD sales and in the past 10 years, digital media has really taken over.
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4/24/2023 08:44:15 am
Fair point, I still thought it was interesting how much of a difference it was from even a decade ago. It would be interesting to see the streaming revenue that WB got for these most recent DTVs. I suppose that’s harder to track though since streaming services are moving towards subscribing to the whole service to get content rather than buying individual movies.
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Mr Neither
4/25/2023 04:14:54 am
Agreed. What this data does show though is how dvds and blu ray are possibly slowly dying out. Having a copy of physical media is always nice but it takes up space and for a lot of people is just no longer necessary. Without streaming data though we can't tell if this is either a decline of viewers for Scooby or just a move to alternate forms of watching. 4/25/2023 09:59:17 am
I personally prefer owning physical media, as the feeling of physically having something as part of your collection is more gratifying than just watching it on a streaming service.
Mr Neither
4/25/2023 05:41:12 pm
It certainly is interesting and raises a discussion point for sure. It also might explain why certain other series and episodes haven't been released on dvd at all, demand might just not be there for them. 4/25/2023 08:12:36 pm
Or they're worried that they will underperform. I feel that's probably why Be Cool Season 2 didn't get a DVD release. The animation style divided the fanbase, and I'm guessing they were worried it wouldn't make them enough money, so they didn't end up releasing it as a result.
Mr Neither
4/27/2023 03:57:18 am
Very much agreed. And with their current financial position I doubt this'll change anytime soon.
Scoob360*
4/24/2023 11:53:36 am
Hello, ok.
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4/24/2023 12:48:07 pm
That was a really interesting video! Thanks for sharing!
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Scoob360*
4/24/2023 02:00:01 pm
You're welcome. I've also seen other video interviews, especially about the film SCOOB: Holiday Haunt on this channel.
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Amber Noel
4/24/2023 04:03:05 pm
Considering the fact that it doesn't show the sales for all the dtv movies maybe the decline happened before happy Halloween and I also don't think they are factoring in dvd sales alone given that despite the decline they didn't cancel trick or treat so either that or the fact that we in the digital age so considering that the numbers might no be that bad.
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4/24/2023 09:54:51 pm
Oh yeah, I don't think they're going by DVD numbers alone either. WB doesn't publish the streaming numbers so I know this fun fact isn't giving the full picture, but I still thought it was interesting nonetheless. I would be curious to know what the streaming numbers are though.
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John Locke
4/24/2023 04:09:14 pm
Yea it's disheartening, but hard to say, like it would be nice if we knew fully what was going into the decisions, if I had say HBO max and alll the DTV scoob's were going there then I wouldn't be as likely to buy them, also wonder if they factor in digital sales or rentals.
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4/24/2023 09:57:11 pm
I imagine they factor in digital sales too. It's too bad we don't have access to those numbers, but I still thought the DVD numbers having a pretty decent-sized decline was interesting, given the sales are now only a tenth of what they once were. I could definitely see Curse of the 13th Ghost and Return to Zombie Island making less serious fans discontinue buying Scooby DVDs thinking the franchise had gone downhill. I know we'll likely never get to know the streaming numbers, but it would be interesting to know what they were.
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Matt
4/24/2023 08:58:40 pm
Can't say I am surprised. Between DVDs becoming less and less popular and the material weakening (or at least among the general audience's opinion).
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4/24/2023 09:59:07 pm
I'd be curious to know if it was a balance of DVDs in general becoming less popular and the material weakening, or if one factor was more prevalent than the other.
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Matt
4/25/2023 12:36:56 am
Completely agree. I heavily prefer quality over quantity. And that isn't meant to diss what has been put out, but there hasn't been a movie as good as those 4 in a long time lol
Mr Neither
4/25/2023 04:23:38 am
It'll never happen though.Content restriction seems to have gone through the roof for children's entertainment since the 90s, whilst animations designed for adults seem to go for low brow humour and simplicity, i.e. Velma,most the time. I feel it's why the few exclusions, usually fan created stuff, seem to be super popular, i.e. Vox Machina, Helluva Boss, Owl House, because they don't have the restrictions or the competition. The Fan created Mystery Incorporated series is another great example of this even if it's not animated. I also feel it's why anime has grown super popular as well over the past decade or so. 4/25/2023 10:04:56 am
Yeah, it’s definitely a bummer. I don’t like how “adult animation” has become synonymous with super raunchy and inappropriate. Arguably, like you said, that Mystery Incorporated fan series, or Wednesday is a great example of how you can make a mature adult show without needing to load it up with gore, violence and sexual stuff.
Matt
4/25/2023 10:21:36 am
Unfortunately, you are right, Mr Neither. 4/25/2023 02:34:57 pm
Completely agreed, Matt. As we saw with Guess Who, playing it overly safe only ended up boring a lot of fans. I would much prefer they take risks and experiment with new elements of the franchise, rather than doing the same thing over and over again.
Mr Neither
4/25/2023 05:53:14 pm
To be fair, I feel Be Cool was outside the box and certainly divided the fan base because of its animation style and how different some of the characters acted. But its these sort of risks we need, not a snooze fest like Guess Who which felt more like twenty minute ads for a bunch of celebrities. As for movies, I feel they really should look at doing another real monster one like Goblin King but again, won't happen. 4/25/2023 08:15:02 pm
Definitely agreed! Be Cool is one of the best Scooby series IMO. I'd love another movie like Goblin King, but I don't think they'll do something like Goblin King again in the near future, especially in the age of Zaslav cancelling everything. They would only want to invest in something that would be sure to be a success among the fanbase, and I think doing something along the lines of Goblin King would probably be considered too risky.
Matt
4/26/2023 04:02:44 pm
I kinda feel like Be Cool was much more in the box of what Scooby is than people who hate it because of the animation think. I think it is a very GOOD example of it, but it isn’t particularly a huge switch up when you get past the animation and stuff, but I appreciate the risks it did take 4/26/2023 04:41:58 pm
You're right, it did play it a little safe in some ways, but the animation and the absurdist humor was really different for the franchise.
Mr Neither
4/27/2023 04:12:40 am
What makes Guess Who different along with the animation, is, as Wildwind stated, the absurdist humour which lightens the tone of the whole show a lot more than its predecessors with a similar format. Combine this with the excessive amount of times Scooby and Shaggy question their life choices and Daphne's hobby of the week, and it really is a unique take to the Scooby formula. 4/27/2023 01:33:27 pm
Wait, did you mean Be Cool instead of Guess Who? If you did mean Guess Who, I think we were watching very different shows lol.
Matt
4/27/2023 05:02:21 pm
@Mr Neither: Assuming you are in fact talking about Be Cool, I completely agree with your overall sentiment. It is a very fresh take on Scooby Doo and its humor, but when I say outside of the box, I mean something that completely changes the game of what Scooby is and redefines what Scooby can be, so it could just come down to personal definition of “outside of the box”. To me, Be Cool is a show that works super well inside of the box, like, say, What’s New, while taking advantage of the unique differences that are there. When I say I want something truly outside of the box (other than VELMA), it isn’t because being inside of the box can’t work really well, it is just that it is clear that something needs to change and a true outside of the box reset (like Zombie Island) can often lead to much better material later on both inside and outside of said box 4/27/2023 06:43:03 pm
@Matt I would consider anything that experimented with something different (such as the humor or character development) to be outside of the box. I think your definition of "outside the box" being a total franchise reset also totally makes since. I think it would be cool to get another franchise reset like Zombie Island, as the franchise has been getting into a bit of a rut IMO with Guess Who, the constant crossovers, and the often forced feeling of nostalgia. It would be great to have that reset so that the franchise could get out of its rut of needing to lean excessively on crossovers and nostalgia with the shows and DTVs (although Velma isn't the way to do it lol).
Mr Neither
4/28/2023 03:46:34 am
Sorry, yeah my bad, meant Be Cool, For me outside the box can be a variety of things, from simply rethinking the tried and tested Scooby formula to something totally different, like 13 Ghosts and Get a Clue.
Matt
4/29/2023 03:44:19 pm
See, I would put both 13 Ghosts and Get a Clue as outside of the box as well, for sure. Admittedly, the results varied between these two. I know many around here like the show, but Get a Clue for me is an example of going outside of the box not particularly working well in the same way where I would point to What's New and Be Cool as shows that, while there are differences and unique qualities in the shows, they generally stay faithful to the general Scooby format and work extremely well within that 4/29/2023 05:09:31 pm
Even as someone who liked Get a Clue, I fully agree that it didn't really stay true to the original formula. Velma presents a good contrast for me though, because even though Get a Clue is definitely not anything like any other Scooby show, Get a Clue works well on its own as a show, if you don't hold it to the standards of the rest of the franchise. I feel similarly about the Daphne & Velma film, which feels like what Scooby would be if it were made into a Disney Channel Original Film. With Velma, the show does work well on its own, even if you think of it as its own separate thing, due to the terrible writing and unlikeable characterizations.
Becker
4/29/2023 06:23:30 pm
@Wildwind, I think you mean Velma does NOT work well even on its own due to the terrible writing and unlikeable characterizations. 4/29/2023 07:40:53 pm
Oops, yeah, I definitely meant Velma does NOT work well. I forgot the most important word lol.
The cop
4/25/2023 05:22:12 am
I think with zazslav in control we'll get at most 1 movie a year most likely during scoobtober
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WildwindVampire
4/25/2023 10:00:09 am
I could see that happening! I’d be okay with that personally. It’d fun to have a tradition where we got a new Scooby movie every October!
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Amber Noel
4/25/2023 06:10:57 am
I wonder if they saw the decline coming which is why they started to release the dtv movies both on dvd and on digital.
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4/25/2023 10:01:51 am
Could be, yeah. I think it’s something most franchises probably did as streaming began to rise as a popular way to watch things.
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ScoobyVerse
4/25/2023 11:19:49 am
The reason for the two recent failures is stated as the fact, Scooby-Doo and Courage had a set demographic. Courage the Cowardly Dog fans. Those being 20 year olds, no matter how high the trailer views were, the movie was leaked online almost a week before. College students are NOT buying DVD’s. Pirating numbers for that movie was insanely high. The movie wasn’t even able to be put on a streaming service for at least half monetized on the film until a year later when it released on HBO Max. People watch the movies, but it’s that no one buys them and that’s because pirating has become such a normalized idea.
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Amber Noel
4/25/2023 11:52:59 am
I feel like trick or treat Scooby doos art style might have turned people away as well.
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4/25/2023 02:32:02 pm
Could be, but I don't think it was shockingly different enough to make people completely stop watching the franchise. 4/25/2023 02:37:33 pm
That is a good point about people increasingly turning to pirating films now, and I am sure that will only happen more often now that we have a Scooby-Doo film that, at least at the moment, is only available to watch via non-official means.
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Scoob360*
4/25/2023 11:41:08 am
This site indicates that the film SCOOB! Holiday Haunt, will be released at the end of this year.
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4/25/2023 02:35:29 pm
Unfortunately, anyone with a Google account can edit IDMb so I don't think it's reliable.
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Thomas Beaumont
4/26/2023 08:02:44 am
Hi blog snax , do you think we’ll get new scooby doo series’s with Max soon because I think this merge could make something good to the scooby franchsie, like it could bring more tv series and movies after the merge has settled down a bit. From Thomas Beaumont
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4/26/2023 08:06:45 am
Hi Thomas! I think it will probably be a couple years before we get any new series unfortunately, since they cancelled Mystery Pups and the merge still has to settle down a bit, like you said.
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Thomas Beaumont
4/26/2023 09:29:47 am
It was Thomas by the way , I am working to make my own version of scooby doo in college with ICT.
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4/26/2023 11:22:18 am
That's really exciting! Btw, I got rid of your other comment just since you accidentally put your email as the name, and I'm guessing you probably didn't want to share that with everyone. :)
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Thomas Beaumont
4/26/2023 12:32:46 pm
That’s okay definitely didn’t want that to happen, so sorry somethings are just weird for phones, I hope we at least get a scooby doo series in 2025
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4/26/2023 02:18:38 pm
No worries! And me too, I hope we get another Scooby series soon as well!
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Grumpydrawer
4/27/2023 02:12:34 pm
I think the decline in DVDs sales for the newer movies may have another factor not discussed here. Say I'm a parent and I look up Scooby Doo movies DVDs on amazon or a similar site, in most cases the older Scooby Doo movies DVDs are going to be cheaper than the newer movies. Hence you'd be more likely to buy one of the older movies than the newer one due to the price factor, especially when you could buy multiple older DVDs for the price of the newer movie.
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4/27/2023 04:40:50 pm
That's an excellent point! Not only that, but a lot of the older movies also tend to be bundled in double and/or triple feature sets, thus making it look like a better bargain for parents and other casual viewers to purchase a set that includes multiple films. The double/triple feature sets tend to go for around the same price as the newer movies do in their standalone sets. One set, the Movie Monster Madness collection, is going for $18.49 right now on Amazon. That set has eight movies, whereas the newer films are going for about $20 in their standalone sets, and parents are obviously going to buy the set that has eight movies, rather than a DVD with a single movie for the exact same price.
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Amber Noel
4/27/2023 05:46:58 pm
I have a question are dtv Scooby doo movies cheap to produce? and I mean compared to other animated stuff not ingeneral. I know they continue to make them because zombie island was a success but is it als I because of that?.
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4/27/2023 06:44:02 pm
I don't know the answer to this, but I would be curious to hear if they were cheap as well. Not sure we'll ever know as WB doesn't publish numbers (even the ones posted in the fun fact above are only estimates based on some data).
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Mystery5
4/27/2023 08:03:09 pm
Waiting for something new aside from Velma S2…come on WBD!!! :(
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4/28/2023 07:58:56 am
Me too! I think the merger were probably have to settle down before they release any new content, so it could be a year or two.
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Amber Noel
4/28/2023 04:11:41 pm
If they have cancelled everything I agree however considering the fact that dtv Scooby movies are rarely officially announced until a trailer comes out so we could get one or two this year but even then they would have to be in production for at least 1-2 years for them to come out out this year so if they are just starting to make dtv movies then we probably won't get them until next year or the year after that. I am also conflicted about weather or not the krypto crossover was cancelled yes their are people say it got cancelled but nobody who worked on the has come out and said anything about it which is very odd considering the fact that the entire film got leaked before it has had any trailer or anything. 4/28/2023 05:35:58 pm
I'm kind of guessing that they cancelled all of the DTVs for this year (as I'm guessing Krypto Too and Haunted High Rise were supposed to be the DTVs for this year). If I'm right, I am guessing we won't get any DTVs until 2024 or 2025, more likely 2025 since the merger will have settled down by then. For the Krypto film, one thing that somebody brought to my attention that I think is worth noting is that they updated the listing with a tiny bit of information recently. None of the info about the characters or producers was there when the listing was originally found last November. I don't know when this was updated, but if it was updated after the movie leaked, it could mean that the movie has a chance to come out. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BGY9KGLK
Dimitri Brenick
4/28/2023 07:29:12 am
of the past 5 years the only definitely good movie is the courage movie and even than i would say it's a disappointing movie since it still tries to hop on the "no real monster" banwagon while courage is all about real monsters. plus the music making both dogs goofy was just the stupidest idea. i only give it a pass do to some of the later scenes looking more morbid so maybe it was done to get those scene past screening by the rating system like the gargoyles in hunchback.
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4/28/2023 07:58:22 am
Personally I liked Happy Halloween, Courage and Trick or Treat, but I agree some of the other recent movies were a bit mediocre.
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