If you want to see a new movie at the cinema anytime soon, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. Multiplexes from New York to New Delhi to Newton Abbot are closed for the foreseeable future, leaving studios searching for creative means to release films that they had in the can before the shutdown. One of the immediate solutions has seen some of these movies prepped for watch-on-demand releases, an approach Warner Bros. have decided to take with Scoob!
As of May 15th (also known as today), Scoob! has been made available to purchase (or rent) on the following platforms:
It’ll cost you $19.99 to rent it or $24.99 for a purchase. Crikey. For a 94 minute children’s movie with sniffy reviews, I’d personally go for a rental before committing the additional $5, but the choice is yours. I appreciate that rapid release requires Warner Bros. to hike the price in order to recoup costs but still, both these prices seem a bit steep. If you’ve got money to burn though or lockdown’s become that boring, Scoob! might be for you.
It’s not the only film to have a VOD release in lieu of a cinematic one, either. Earlier this week, Capone was made available in the same format, and met with a similarly skeptical critical response.
Maybe reviewers just don’t like watching from home? Or perhaps the entrance fee put them in a bad move? Or, likelier than either of those, studios have chosen to release low-risk films of marginal public interest, as opposed to blockbusters with immense financial demands riding on them. The day something like No Time to Die or Black Widow gets released online first is the day Hollywood moves away from theaters for good.
Is Scoob! a forerunner for a brave new world, though? With the societal change this pandemic is bringing about, never say never.
