Moviefone Editorial

Tag: scott-rosenberg

  • McKenna Grace Playing Daphne in New ‘Scooby-Doo’ Series

    (Left) McKenna Grace in Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group's 'Scream 7.' (Right) Sarah Michelle Gellar, Linda Cardellini, and Matthew Lillard in 'Scooby-Doo'. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures.
    (Left) McKenna Grace in Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group’s ‘Scream 7.’ (Right) Sarah Michelle Gellar, Linda Cardellini, and Matthew Lillard in ‘Scooby-Doo’. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures.

    Preview:

    • McKenna Grace will play a young Daphne in a new ‘Scooby-Doo’ series.
    • Netflix is producing the live-action show.
    • It’ll be a prequel re-imagining of the cartoon series.

    Nervy, snack-loving hound Scooby-Doo and the human characters with whom he often solves mysteries has been brought to the screen many times, in animated and live-action form.

    Netflix is the latest company to try its hand at a Scooby show, greenlighting a live-action take on the animated adventures back in March 2025.

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    And the first cast member has been hired for the show, as McKenna Grace will play a young take on Daphne Blake.

    She’s no stranger to the role, having voiced Daphne in 2020 animated movie ‘Scoob!’ and also working on follow-up ‘Scoob!: Holiday Haunt’ before Warner Bros. unceremoniously scrapped the finished film.

    Related Article: ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’s McKenna Grace Joins the cast of ‘Scream 7’

    What’s the story of the new ‘Scooby-Doo’ show?

    1969's 'Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!' Photo: Hanna-Barbera.
    1969’s ‘Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!’ Photo: Hanna-Barbera.

    Written by Josh Appelbaum & Scott Rosenberg and based on characters created by Hanna-Barbera, the to-be titled Scooby series crafts an origin story of how the Mystery Inc. group got together and first teamed up to crack the haunting case that started it all.

    During their final summer at camp, old friends Shaggy and Daphne (Grace) get embroiled in a haunting mystery surrounding a lonely lost Great Dane puppy that may have been a witness to a supernatural murder.

    Together with the pragmatic and scientific townie, Velma, and the strange, but ever so handsome new kid, Freddy, they set out to solve the case that is pulling each of them into a creepy nightmare that threatens to expose all of their secrets.

    Prolific TV producer Greg Berlanti is also involved via his Berlanti Productions company. Netflix has handed out an eight-episode initial order and the show should kick off shooting soon. Zoinks!

    Where else can we see McKenna Grace?

    (L to R) Celeste O'Connor and McKenna Grace star in Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group's 'Scream 7.'
    (L to R) Celeste O’Connor and McKenna Grace star in Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group’s ‘Scream 7.’

    Grace is back on movie screens now in ‘Scream 7.’ She’s also part of the cast for the latest ‘Hunger Games’ prequel, ‘The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping,’ where she plays Maysilee Donner.

    That movie will be in cinemas on November 20.

    (L to R) Joseph Zada as Haymitch Abernathy and McKenna Grace as Maysilee Donner in 'The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping'. Photo Credit: Murray Close.
    (L to R) Joseph Zada as Haymitch Abernathy and McKenna Grace as Maysilee Donner in ‘The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping’. Photo Credit: Murray Close.

    List of Movies & TV Shows Featuring McKenna Grace:

    Buy McKenna Grace Movies and TV on Amazon

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  • Kelly Marcel Directing ‘Venom 3’

    Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock and Venom in 2021's 'Venom: Let There Be Carnage.'
    Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock and Venom in 2021’s ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage.’

    The director’s chair for the ‘Venom’ movies, far from being the usual folding option, must be on some sort of violent swivel. How else to explain the constant change in filmmaker behind the first two, and now third movie in the franchise?

    This latest change does at least represent some stability behind the camera though, as Deadline reports that Kelly Marcel, who has been a writer and producer on both previous films, is now on board to direct the third for Sony’s expanding Marvel-based movie universe.

    Launching in 2018 with the first movie, ‘Venom’ sees Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock, a down-on-his luck investigative journalist struggling to keep his career afloat and hang on to his crumbling social life.

    His world is already falling apart before he’s accidentally infected with an alien symbiote which takes over his body and causes him to become a violent creature that is only too happy to eat people.

    Eddie eventually forges an unlikely partnership with the creature that shares his body, and they end up fighting evil (and occasionally, yes, still eating people) together.

    Though the original ‘Venom’, directed by ‘Zombieland’s Ruben Fleischer, scored some awful reviews, it was a big box office hit, earning more than $850 million dollars.

    So of course, Sony commissioned a sequel, which saw Marcel and Hardy working together to write the script (they’d taken over from previous writers Jeff Pinkner and Scott Rosenberg on the first movie, sharing credit that time).

    Director Andy Serkis and Tom Hardy on the set of 2021's 'Venom: Let There Be Carnage.'
    (L to R) Director Andy Serkis and Tom Hardy on the set of 2021’s ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage.’

    2021’s ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’ saw actor-turned-director Andy Serkis taking over the director’s chair, with Eddie and Venom facing off against violent, psychopathic serial killer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson), who merges with another symbiote and becomes the terrifying monster known as Carnage.

    It was another blend of less-than-enthusiastic reviews but still healthy box office, ending up with a little over $500 million.

    And the post-credits scene of ‘Let There Be Carnage’ sees Eddie and Venom being drawn in the MCU, where he identifies Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, though the end of ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ sees the pair sent back to their own dimension, leaving behind a tiny fragment of the symbiote to cause chaos for the main Marvel heroes (at least, we figure that’s the plan).

    Despite her experience with the ‘Venom’ movies, and her long working partnership with Hardy, with whom she started out in a theatre group, Marcel would seem to be an unlikely choice to direct the next one.

    She hasn’t directed a movie before, and the effects-heavy workload of a superhero film can be daunting. Still, Marcel has plenty of experience on films, including writing the likes of ‘Saving Mr. Banks’, the first ‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’ and snagging a Story By credit on Disney’s ‘Cruella’.

    More recently, she has been busy as showrunner on Apple TV+ series ‘The Changeling’, which should be on screens this year.

    Hardy teased that the third ‘Venom’ script was in progress via Instagram back in June, and we knew that Sony wanted to push ahead with the franchise. So now Marcel will be carrying even more responsibility.

    Sony has yet to confirm a release date for the new movie, but we can’t see it being ready before 2024.

    Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock and Venom in 2018's 'Venom.'
    Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock and Venom in 2018’s ‘Venom.’
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  • Justin Lin Directing ‘One Punch Man’ Adaptation

    Vin Diesel and director Justin Lin
    (L to R) Vin Diesel and director Justin Lin on the set of ‘Fast Five.’

    There was surprise and consternation back at the end of April when Justin Lin, who had steered many of the ‘Fast & Furious’ franchise’s most successful entries, abruptly departed the latest, ‘Fast X’, weeks into production.

    Citing creative differences between himself, the studio and star Vin Diesel (but saying that he remains a producer on the movie), Lin stepped away, to be replaced by Louis Leterrier.

    Which frees Lin’s time up to focus on another franchise, this one still at the embryonic stage. Sony has been looking to adapt manga and anime sensation ‘One Punch Man’ for a couple of years now, with ‘Spider-Man’ veteran producers Avi and Ari Arad attached to oversee it. And Lin has jumped aboard to direct and produce.

    The massively popular ‘One Punch Man’ is a comedic action series about a superhero named Saitama who, as the title suggests, can defeat literally any enemy with a single punch. The only person not impressed with Saitama’s ability is Saitama himself; he’s completely bored with fighting and only gets excited when it seems like he finally has a challenge. The manga was designed as an absurd universe – Saitama’s foes include a humanoid crab named Crablante, who mutated after eating too much shellfish.

    Created in 2009 by Japanese artist ONE as a webcomic, the story quickly went viral. In 2012, it was then published on Shueisha’s Tonari no Young Jump Next company with illustrations by Yusuke Murata along with ONE. The series became huge with worldwide sales totaling more than 30 million copies.

    One-Punch Man photo
    One-Punch Man photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

    When the English edition published by VIZ Media debuted in the U.S. in 2015, the first and second volumes made the New York Times Manga Bestsellers list and was nominated for an Eisner and a Harvey Award. Since then, the popularity of ‘One Punch Man’ has led to a critically-acclaimed anime series, plus games across different platforms.

    Scott Rosenberg & Jeff Pinkner, who have teamed up to write movies such as ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’, ‘Jumanji: The Next Level’ and the first ‘Venom’, are at work on the script for this one.

    Their history includes the likes of ‘Fringe’ and ‘Lost’ on TV and other movies including ‘The Dark Tower’.

    ‘One Punch Man’ is still in development, and we don’t yet know who will be playing the main character. A big question will be getting the tone right – since the source material was designed as a spoof of big, portentous manga tales, finding the comedic balance here will be key. Still, Lin’s own past TV work on shows including ‘Community’ might help on that front.

    And he has a solid track record even outside of the ‘Fast’ films. He’s handled big other projects such as ‘Star Trek Beyond’ and directed smaller movies including ‘Annapolis’ and ‘Better Luck Tomorrow’.

    Sony, of course, would love for this to become a popular new movie series to add to its existing franchises including the ‘Spider-Man’ movies and ‘Uncharted’.

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