‘Scary Movie’ franchise to make highly-anticipated return
With films such as The First Omen, Scream VI and Five Nights at Freddy’s recently propping up the horror genre, the return of the Scary Movie franchise couldn’t be any more fitting.
The comedy series came to cultural prominence in 2000 when the first Scary Movie was released. The slasher parody spoofed horror hits of the era such as Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, as well as other cultural phenomenons such as The Sixth Sense, The Blair Witch Project and even The Usual Suspects.
It was directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans and written by Marlon and Shawn Wayans ,who also star in the film, alongside Buddy Johnson, Phil Beauman, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. The rest of the cast featured Jon Abrahams, Carmen Electra, Shannon Elizabeth, Anna Faris, Kurt Fuller, Regina Hall, and more. The first instalment was the highest-grossing in the franchise and spawned four sequels, culminating in 2013’s Scary Movie 5, which received terrible reviews from critics.
The Scary Movie franchise is receiving a reboot, over a decade after the most recent film appeared, Paramount Pictures have confirmed. For the new movie, they are teaming up with Neal H. Moritz, the prominent producer behind the Fast and Furious series and Prison Break, to bring it back to life.
Although we do not yet know who will star in the upcoming project or if the Wayans’ will return, the movie is entering production late this year, and is expected to arrive in theatres in 2025.
This will come as part of a busy period for Moritz, who has recently worked on the imminent Sonic the Hedgehog 3, which is expected in December, and the spin-off Knuckles. The latter is a six-episode series that takes place following the events of 2022’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2. It exclusively debuts on Paramount+ on April 26th. As it stands, Moritz is also developing several other projects, including Face/Off and Shadow Run.
The new Scary Movie project comes as a part of Paramount’s first-look partnership with Miramax, which had brought the original series to life under the Dimension imprint. The independent production house, which was founded by the Weinstein brothers, one of whom, Harvey, is a convicted sex offender and now have nothing to do with it, will fully finance the project. Currently, its chairman is Paris Saint Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, as his company, beIN Media Group own 51% of the company, with Paramount having 49%. It was recently announced that former MGM head Jonathan Glickman had become Miramax’s CEO.
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