MOVIE NEWS – The Scary Movie franchise has grossed nearly one billion dollars so far, and after a quarter of a century, the Wayans family is returning to its own ruthless horror parody machine.
The Scary Movie franchise has grossed nearly one billion dollars to date, and after twenty-five years, a new installment is coming, built once again on the familiar formula of mercilessly parodying the most popular current horror films. The project is being driven by the original creative force behind it: the Wayans family. Marlon Wayans, one of the central figures in that family brain trust, spoke about the comeback to Variety.
According to Marlon, the major return began with a personal promise. The comedian promised his dying father in the hospital that he would reunite his brothers, Keenen and Shawn, as well as the wider family, for a new shared film project. The practical opportunity arrived two years ago, when Miramax’s new CEO, Jonathan Glickman, approached the family and offered them full creative and financial partnership. That kind of irresistible offer is usually reserved for real Hollywood heavyweights, such as Quentin Tarantino. The Wayans family clearly understood the value of the opportunity and got to work at an astonishing pace. The crew was still doing reshoots in April this year in order to squeeze in parodies of fresh films, including the Michael Jackson biopic now heading toward one billion dollars at the box office.
Marlon Wayans once again told Variety the infamous story of the Weinstein brothers’ misconduct. It began with the first two Scary Movie films, released in 2000 and 2001, which became enormous financial successes. The first film cost only $19 million and grossed $278 million, while the sequel earned $141 million from a $45 million budget. Harvey and Bob Weinstein, the owners of distributor Dimension Films, then pushed the Wayans brothers aside. When the brothers asked for a fair pay raise for the third film, the Weinsteins shut them out of the production. According to Marlon, the ruthless producer duo also cheated them when it came to royalty payments, using fraudulent accounting tricks. The Weinsteins did not benefit in the long run: without the Wayans family, the horror parodies never worked as well as they had at the beginning.
In the interview, Marlon also teased that if Scary Movie succeeds, they may continue their earlier projects as well. That could mean a second White Chicks and a fifth installment in the Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood franchise.
Scary Movie will be released in Hungarian cinemas on June 4, 2026.
Source: UIP Dunafilm
