‘Scary Movie’ Franchise Resurrected at Paramount, New Movie to Shoot This Fall

Miramax will team with the studio on the new installment

"Scary Movie"
"Scary Movie" (Credit: Dimension Films)

It’s been 11 years since the last feature in the “Scary Movie” franchise hit theaters. But that wait is over as, at CinemaCon, Paramount announced they’re teaming up with Miramax on a new installment of the horror parody.

Miramax will finance the film with Neal H. Moritz producing and Paramount distributing worldwide. Nothing else is known about the project although it will start production this fall.

It’s also unclear whether this will be another sequel or a complete rebooting of the franchise. No doubt there’s a lot of horror material to mine since 2013.

The announcement comes nearly two weeks after Miramax announced Jonathan Glickman would fill the position of CEO of the studio. It came alongside the studio acquiring Glickman’s independent film and TV studio, Panoramic Media.

Released in 2000, the first “Scary Movie” was directed by Keenan Ivory Wayans and told the stereotypical story of a group of friends threatened by a masked killer. The film took tropes and poked fun at the likes of “Scream,” “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and “Halloween.” The film grossed $278 million on an $19 million dollar budget.

Sequels soon followed, though Wayans departed the project as director after the second. In 2003, with the arrival of the third “Scary Movie,” the rating was dropped to a PG-13 with the tone becoming more slapstick and juvenile. The franchise also started lampooning other films, outside of the horror genre, as well as specific pop culture moments and celebrities. It also spawned a series of other genre-specific parody films including “Date Movie” and “Epic Movie.”

Comments