Every film fan is likely to have stumbled across a part of the Scary Movie series sooner or later. Since the early 2000s, parodies have been making fun of iconic horror films. What few people know, however, is that after the second part there was a big break. The original stars of the series were fired.
Without the Wayans brothers, Scary Movie would never have existed – and then they were completely ignored
The Scary Movie series was created by the Wayans brothersnamely Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans and Keenen Ivory Wayans. They lifted the first part of the series in several positions.
After the surprise success of the original, the well-rehearsed trio returned in the same constellation for Scary Movie 2. Despite a convincing pitch meeting, Scary Movie 3 was ripped out of their hands.
How did this come about?
In early September, Marlon Wayans spoke in detail on the Club Shay Shay podcast about his experience producing the first two Scary Movie films. And it ended on one extremely bitter notewhich is primarily associated with two names: Harvey Weinstein and Bob Weinstein.
The first Scary Movie films were made under the umbrella of the Miramax film studio, which was founded by the Weinstein brothers and was still run at the time. “We got a really bad deal on the first part, but then on the second part it was a very good deal”recalls Wayans.
The Weinsteins took the Scary Movie series away from the Wayans brothers and handed it over to David Zucker
With a budget of $19 million, Scary Movie grossed $278 million worldwide. A gigantic success that Miramax wanted to repeat as quickly as possible. The sequel was also impressive at the box office, although not quite as strong: $141 million on a budget of $45 million.
The Wayans brothers were hoping for a 30 million deal for Scary Movie 3. However, Miramax and the Weinsteins approached them with an offer that was more likely comparable to the deal in the first part was. “They were terrible people. Terrible people”says Marlon Wayans without batting an eyelid.
He continues:
They took the franchise away from us. And then they stole our idea for the third part. They took it away from us and gave it to someone else because we couldn’t agree on a deal. So they gave it to someone else and didn’t tell us. We read it in the newspapers.
The series was then taken over by David Zucker, who had already run a very successful spoof movie series with The Naked Gun and was also involved in numerous film parodies. He directed Scary Movie 3 and 4 and acted as producer and screenwriter for Part 5. He also had small cameos.
However, nine years after the last part of the series to date, this is coming to an end Scary movie comeback from the Wayans brothers to. Scary Movie 6 is officially in the works and will bring back the original trio. Filming is scheduled to begin next year. It is currently not clear when the film will be released in cinemas.