MOVIE NEWS – Everyone should hold on tight, because Scary Movie is returning to cinemas in early summer – and chances are this won’t be the final entry in a franchise that has been around for more than a quarter of a century. It’s worth reflecting on how one of the most profitable franchises in film history – five movies that have grossed a combined $830 million – managed to keep audiences interested for so long.

The answer is fairly simple. The formula invented by the Wayans brothers is built on one key idea: every installment parodies the horror hits that audiences love at the time. The evergreen foundations are Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, and each new film piles on the latest fan favorites – unleashing deliberately cruel, taboo-smashing jokes on viewers.

The first film, which can safely be called genre-defining, arrived in 2000 and drew heavily on Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, while also borrowing plenty of references from Halloween and The Blair Witch Project. After the massive success, Scary Movie 2 (2001) was quickly thrown together, leaning into House on Haunted Hill and other haunted-house stories, while also taking shots at The Exorcist, The Sixth Sense, and What Lies Beneath. The third entry (2003) marked a turning point: the Wayans brothers stepped away, and parody heavyweight David Zucker and his team took over (Airplane!, The Naked Gun) – which pushed the frat-house crudity and shockingly vulgar dialogue into the background. Packed with fresh references (The Ring, Signs), the film’s charmingly dumb old-school gags made it the franchise’s second highest-grossing installment ($220 million).

Scary Movie 4 (2006) signaled a shift in the genre: the foundation was the ultra-violent, shock-driven Saw, blended with plenty of The Grudge, and the film also leaned into War of the Worlds – leaving room for a Tom Cruise parody along the way.

The fifth movie, released seven years later, mixed everything together. From Paranormal Activity to Black Swan to Mama, it crammed in countless references – and critics said the final nail in the coffin was Charlie Sheen playing himself. After that box-office disappointment, the series was put on ice, until now.

With the upcoming new Scary Movie, Marlon Wayans returns alongside the original heroines Anna Faris and Regina Hall, and the team promises they will revive the franchise’s best traditions in a way that fits the expectations of a new generation of moviegoers.

(Scary Movie 6 – Hungarian release date: June 11, 2026.)

UIP Dunafilm