Mystery Incorporated

Mystery Incorporated is an upcoming American live-action/computer animated supernatural horror comedy film based on the long-running Hanna-Barbera animated television franchise Scooby-Doo. A reboot of the Scooby-Doo live-action film series, it stars Zac Efron, Mandy Moore, Kate Micucci and Matthew Lillard as the titular group. The plot revolves around Mystery Incorporated who reunite after a ten-year disbandment to investigate a mystery at two of the members' wedding.

Principal photography is scheduled to begin in autumn 2021 in New Hampshire with the film currently scheduled to release on August 18, 2023 for the HBO Max streaming service.

Synopsis
"Fifteen years after the events of the original television series, the Mystery Inc. gang reunite for the wedding of Fred and Daphne when a terrifying poltergeist forces the group to continue their detective work in order to save the ceremony."

Plot
TBA

Cast

 * Zac Efron as Fred Jones
 * Mandy Moore as Daphne Blake-Jones
 * Kate Micucci as Velma Dinkley
 * Matthew Lillard as Norville "Shaggy" Rogers
 * Iain Armitage as young Shaggy
 * Frank Welker as the Voice of Scooby-Doo
 * Neil Fanning as the voice of young Scooby-Doo
 * Awkwafina as Nova
 * Carrie Brownstein as Thorn
 * Corin Tucker as Luna
 * Angie Boylan as Dusk
 * Jess Harnell as Additional Voices

Additionally, Danny Pudi, Riki Lindhome, Ben Schwartz, Bobby Moynihan and Naomi Scott have been cast in undisclosed roles. The casting of Micucci, Pudi, Schwartz and Moynihan resulted in an unintentional reunion of the cast of DuckTales.

Development
Raydon Entertainment had been working on a live-action Scooby-Doo film since 2016 with a draft being completed in early-2018 under the title of Scooby-Doo in the Zombie Apocalypse and was intended to be an R-rated adaptation of the 1998 animated film Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island. The script contained direct references to the films Night of the Living Dead and World War Z, as well as the television adaptation of The Walking Dead. The film's title and basic premise was inspired by a 2013 set of photos featuring a group of cosplayers as the Mystery Inc gang in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Photographer Jeff Zoet became aware of the film's existence in late-2018 and threatened to sue Raydon Entertainment over copyright infringement. The studio agreed to end development on the film in exchange for the lawsuit being dropped.

Despite abandoning their original concept, Raydon continued to develop a script for a potential Scooby-Doo film and in May 2020, a scriptment was completed entitled Mystery Incorporated that would keep the R-rating edge but replace the zombie apocalypse with a traditional story of a haunted bed and breakfast. The story was set 15 years after the events of ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scooby-Doo,_Where_Are_You! Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!]'' and was largely told from Shaggy's point-of-view. Raydon was extremely impressed with the pitch and green-lit the film, initially setting it up at their non-profit fan film division Fanatic Films while they worked on a pitch for [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Bros. Warner Bros.]

Approximately one month following the home media release of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoob! Scoob!] on July 21, 2020, Raydon Entertainment pitched Mystery Incorporated as a live-action reboot to the film series that could run in parallel with Warner Bros.' shared Hanna-Barbera animated multiverse. Warner Bros. liked the pitch and agreed to distribute the film if Raydon put up the production costs and if marketing was obvious that the film was not intended for younger audiences. Raydon subsequently moved the film from Fanatic Films to Moonlight Pictures in October 2020.

By May 2021, the film had moved divisions again, this time to Raydon's newly founded horror label Gravitas Studios and will be the studio's first film upon release in 2023.

Writing
TBA

Casting
The May 2020 scriptment recommended the main cast consist of Zac Efron and Amanda Seyfriedreprising their roles as Fred and Daphne respectively from [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoob! Scoob!] and Kate Micucci and Matthew Lillard reprising their roles as Velma and Shaggy respectively from the various animated series.

In October 2020, veteran Scooby-Doo voice actor Frank Welker was announced to be reprising his role as Scooby-Doo, marking the first time the actor has voiced the character in a live-action capacity. Neil Fanning, the voice of Scooby-Doo in both Scooby-Doo and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed will have a vocal cameo in the film.

In May 2021, the main voice cast was revealed, with Zac Efron reprising his role as Fred Jones from the 2020 animated film [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoob! Scoob!] and veteran voice actors Kate Micucci and Matthew Lillard reprising their roles as Velma Dinkley and Shaggy Rogers respectively. Micucci has been the voice of Velma since 2015 while Lillard has voiced Shaggy since 2009 and also portrayed the character in the two previous live-action films. Lillard was cast due to the studio believing "no other actor will ever be able to top what Matthew accomplished [and] we only hope to come close to [the previous] perfection." Later that month, Mandy Moore was cast as Daphne Blake-Jones. She is the only actor of the main cast to have never portrayed their character in any other form of Scooby-Doo media and replaces Amanda Seyfried from the original scriptment's recommended cast.

In June 2021, Awkwafina joined the cast as Nova, an original character invented for the film that will serve as a romantic interest for Velma who will be portrayed as openly gay in this film. Initial sources incorrectly reported that she would be portraying Marcie Fleach from the television series [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scooby-Doo!_Mystery_Incorporated ''Sooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated'']. Awkwafina clarified in an interview for The Whisper, "my character is this new, really street smart but naïve ghost hunter living in Chinatown. She's gay and dating Velma which is really cool and I'm excited to get to showcase that on the big screen." Jess Harnell joined the cast to provide various voices for the ghosts and creatures featured in the film.

American rock band Sleater-Kinney have been cast as the fictional eco-goth rock band The Hex Girls. The group will also contribute to the film's soundtrack. Amy Lee, Maria Brink and Rihanna were originally considered for the roles but the studio chose to cast a single band rather than members from multiple acts.

Danny Pudi, Riki Lindhome, Ben Schwartz and Naomi Scott have also been cast in undisclosed roles.

Filming
Principal photography is scheduled to begin in autumn 2021 in New Hampshire.

Music
Main article: Mystery Incorporated (soundtrack)

Sleater-Kinney will perform the majority of the soundtrack in-character as The Hex Girls. Garfunkel and Oates, In This Moment and Evanescence will also contribute to the soundtrack.

Release
Mystery Incorporated will be released theatrically in the United States on August 18, 2023, a date previously held by The Legend of Aang: Crossroads of Destiny, another Raydon Entertainment film. It will be theatrically distributed worldwide by Raydon Studios Motion Pictures.

Future
Two television series follow-ups are currently in development for the HBO Max streaming service. Crystal Cove, is a sequel series that reunites the Mystery Inc. gang for a vacation at the tourist trap town of Crystal Cove, where a nearby summer camp is suspiciously shutdown after a serious of unexplained events that the local police attempt to cover up. It is a crossover with the film Crystal Lake, retroactively establishing Mystery Incorporated as the first installment of the SlasherVerse. The Marfa Murder Files, is a spin-off series following Sheriff Brown as he investigates the earlier crimes of Bob Evans.