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Freddie Prinze Jr. says he was ‘so angry’ after being asked to take pay cut for Scooby Doo 2

21 December 2022, 11:58

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By Katie Louise Smith

"Like we made you guys three-quarters of a billion dollars, you can't afford to pay them what I'm making on this? Screw that."

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It is a known fact that Scooby-Doo: The Movie and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed are cinematic masterpieces.

Starring Matthew Lillard, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Linda Cardellini and Freddie Prinze Jr., both films were a huge success, and since their release in the early '00s, they've grown into movies that are beloved by people on social media.

But for Freddie, the experience of making them was apparently not as great. In fact, one disagreement with the studio over how much he was being paid ultimately caused him to walk away from the franchise.

In an interview with Esquire, Freddie explained how he was asked to take a pay cut for Scooby-Doo 2 so that his co-stars could earn the same amount as him.

Freddie Prinze Jr. says he was asked to take a pay cut so his co-stars could get higher pay for Scooby Doo 2. Picture: Netflix

Speaking to Esquire, Freddie revealed that he had a few frustrations with his involvement in the Scooby-Doo franchise. The first being that the script he signed on for wasn’t the movie that was made. The second being that he was asked to take a pay cut for the second movie.

"I remember thinking, ‘Hold up, who's giving them the raise? Me or y'all?’ Like we made you guys three-quarters of a billion dollars, you can't afford to pay them what I'm making on this? Screw that."

Based on his comments, it sounds like the rest of the cast were earning less than him for their work. According to Esquire's profile, the studio also allegedly released Freddie's salary in a magazine as a way to get him to comply. "My ego was so angry," he added.

As a result, Freddie walked away from the franchise. Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed was released in 2004, but any hopes of a potential Scooby Doo 3 were pretty much over.

Freddie Prinze Jr. was asked to take a pay cut for Scooby-Doo 2. Picture: Warner Bros. Pictures

Thankfully, Freddie doesn't have hard feelings towards those films anymore, mostly thanks to the overwhelming love of the two movies and his role in them on social media.

"All these people that had grown up loving those [Scooby-Doo] movies started reaching out…and then I got what I felt was a more accurate perspective on what that movie meant to people because I was no longer viewing it through the lenses of the studio," he said.