Zoinks! James Gunn confirms Scooby-Doo was originally given an R-rating

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Jinkies! Late yesterday evening, filmmaker James Gunn took to his Facebook account and created a rather interesting post as his way of commemorating the 15th anniversary of the 2002 supernatural detective family film SCOOBY-DOO. As the film's screenplay-writer, Gunn was in on the ground floor of the gang's super sleuthy adventure, which, as it turns out, was originally given an R-rating.

Zoinks! How does something like that even happen? Gunn went on to explain the situation by stating in the Facebook post that, “I had loved the character of Scooby-Doo since I was a kid and was excited at the prospect of making a live action film with 2002’s cutting CGI technology(!!) Yes, it was not exactly what we planned going out — I had written an edgier film geared toward older kids and adults, and the studio ended pushing it into an clean cut children’s film. And, yes, the rumors are true — the first cut was rated R by the MPAA, and the female stars’ cleavage was CGI’d away so as not to offend. But, you know, such is life. I had a lot of fun making this movie, regardless of all that. And I was also able to eat, buy a car, and a house because of it.”

In addition to the reveal, Gunn also stated that, in the wake of SCOOBY-DOO's success, he was asked to create silver screen adaptations for other animated TV shows, but was ultimately more keen to pair with Zack Snyder for his remake of George A. Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD.

Gunn continued to explain away the situation by stating, “I was offered every movie you can imagine. Like, uh, the Jabberjaw movie, and The Jetsons movie, and the Captain Caveman movie. I was offered tons of money to do all of these things. So, of course, me being me, I chose to write DAWN OF THE DEAD. Go figure out my brain, who knows.”

You can read the entire post from Gunn's Facebook page HERE.

An R-rated SCOOBY-DOO, eh? I'd totally watch that. I'm thinking something more along the lines of SCOOBY-DOO meets the CW's SUPERNATURAL, but with a grittier horror edge to it. While many of us probably would have appreciated a hilarious scene wherein Shaggy and Scooby toke up in preparation to raid a cobweb-covered kitchen, or a steamy make-out sequence between Daphne and Velma ala CRUEL INTENTIONS, alas, it was not meant to be.

If you're in the mood for some R-rated James Gunn-written madness, be sure to check out THE BELKO EXPERIMENT, set to arrive on Digital, DVD, and Blu-Ray later this month.