'Scooby-Doo' Live-Action Movies Return to Netflix on June 1 After 2025 Removal
Trying to stream the 2002 live-action remake of Scooby-Doo? Well gang, this mystery is finally solved: both Scooby-Doo and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed will be available to stream again on Netflix starting June 1. Both films left the streaming service back in February 2025.
The live-action Scooby-Doo movies are a who's who of teen idols from the late '90s. Sarah Michelle Gellar of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer plays Daphne. Gellar's husband, Freddie Prinze Jr. from I Know What You Did Last Summer (also starring Gellar), plays Fred. Matthew Lillard from Scream plays Shaggy. Linda Cardellini from Freaks and Geeks plays Velma. A CGI great dane plays the titular Scooby-Doo.
The plot mirrors those of the original '60s animated series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! In the first film, Scooby and the gang are invited to Spooky Island, a hot spring break spot, to investigate a suspected demon infestation. Of course, the demons would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those meddling kids!
Monsters Unleashedfinds the gang celebrated for their achievements at a museum gala, only for an Evil Masked Figure to unleash all the monsters from Mystery, Inc.'s past. It's giving Scooby-Doo meets A Christmas Carol.
Neither film was a critical darling. Scooby-Doo holds a 32 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Monsters Unleashed fares even worse, with a 22 percent Rotten Tomatoes score. Nonetheless, both films have earned cult classic status over the last two decades, alongside other live-action cartoon remakes of the era, like The Flintstones In Viva Rock Vegasand Josie and the Pussycats.
James Gunn Never Cared For His 'Scooby-Doo' Movies
James Gunn, of Guardians of the Galaxy and Suicide Squad fame, actually wrote the scripts for both movies, while Never Been Kissed director Raja Gosnell directed both.
Gunn himself was never crazy about the movies, either. In 2022, 20 years after the first film's release, he took to Twitter to lament his frustrations over the film's final cut. "The first Scooby-Doo was originally intended (by me, the producers & the director, Raja Gosnell) to be PG-13, but we never got a PG-13 rating," he wrote. "The first rating from the MPAA was R, & then a bunch of stuff was changed, & that cut ended up being rated PG."
In 2020, Gunn revealed in a since-deleted tweet (via IndieWire) that he intended Velma to be a lesbian. Of course, that didn't happen. "In 2001 Velma was explicitly gay in my initial script," he wrote. "But the studio just kept watering it down & watering it down, becoming ambiguous (the version shot), then nothing (the released version) & finally having a boyfriend (the sequel)."
This story was originally published by Men's Journal on May 30, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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This story was originally published May 30, 2026 at 6:36 AM.