Scary Movie (2026 film)

Background

After the success of Scary Movie 2 (2001), the Wayans brothers —Marlon, Shawn and Keenen Ivory— who co-wrote both Scary Movie (2000) and the sequel with Keenen Ivory serving as director and starring Marlon and Shawn as Shorty Meeks and Ray Wilkins respectively, pitched their idea for the third Scary Movie film at the same time that they were pitching the idea for White Chicks (2004). Their pitch for the third film was reportedly met with approval. According to Marlon, however, the two parties could not come to a deal primarily because Miramax's initial pay offer was only equal to what had been agreed upon for the first film, which would mean the Wayans would actually be taking a pay cut. Higher offers were then made after the White Chicks film idea was greenlit, but still below the initial pay demand that the Wayans had asked for at the start of negotiations. The Wayans brothers then chose to prioritize the White Chicks film while their pitch would then reportedly be used as the basis for Scary Movie 3 (2003) without their involvement.^[16]

Development

At CinemaCon in April 2024, Miramax announced that a new Scary Movie film was in development, with the studio fully financing the project and Neal H. Moritz attached as a producer.^[17] In October 2024, it was revealed that the brothers would return as screenwriters and producers, marking their first collaboration in 17 years. Rick Alvarez and Michael Tiddes were hired to co-write and direct, respectively, after collaborating with Marlon in other films.^[18][19] It was produced by Marlon's and Alvarez's Ugly Baby Productions label.^[20] Marlon described the film as being a "rebooquel" and additionally cited two factors on the brothers' return to the franchise; the downfall of producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein and words of encouragement from their father, Howell Stouten Wayans prior to his death in 2023.^[21] Marlon and his siblings were later contacted by Jonathan Glickman shortly after being named CEO of Miramax and backed the film with a $30 million production budget.^[22][3]

Casting

In addition to the Wayans brothers, Anna Faris and Regina Hall reprise their roles as Cindy Campbell and Brenda Meeks respectively.

Both Anna Faris and Regina Hall, who starred in the first four installments as Cindy Campbell and Brenda Meeks, expressed interest in reprising their roles.^[29][30] In August 2025, Faris and Hall were confirmed to be returning in the film.^[19] In September 2025, it was revealed Marlon would reprise his role as Shorty.^[31] In November 2025, several cast members were revealed to have joined the film, including Shawn as well as returning actors Jon Abrahams, Lochlyn Munro, Cheri Oteri, Dave Sheridan, and Chris Elliott, with Damon Wayans Jr., Kim Wayans, Craig Wayans, Heidi Gardner, Olivia Rose Keegan, Savannah Lee Nassif, Cameron Scott Roberts, Sydney Park, Gregg Wayans, Ruby Snowber, and Benny Zielke as newcomers to the film series.^[10]

In February 2026, Anthony Anderson confirmed he would be returning for the film.^[32] Anderson revealed that he was one of the first people to be contacted by the Wayans family for a participation of the film due to his long-running friendship with Marlon and his family.^[33] Following her exit from the pre-production of Scream 7 (2026), Melissa Barrera expressed an interest in appearing in the film in April 2024.^[34] Marlon revealed the absence of Shannon Elizabeth, who portrayed Buffy Gilmore in the first film, was due to the massive amount of returning characters and expressed support of Elizabeth's inclusion in a future installment.^[35]

Filming and post-production

Principal photography began on October 1, 2025, and wrapped on November 24.^[36][37] Filming took place at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta.^[38] To incorporate parodies of the recent films Sinners, Weapons and Michael, additional filming was done in April 2026.^[39] Jonathan Schwartz edited the film,^[40] and Haim Mazar composed the score.^[41]

Box office

As of June 18, 2026^[update], Scary Movie has grossed $90 million in the United States and Canada, and $91 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $180 million.^[4][5]

In the United States and Canada, Scary Movie was released alongside Masters of the Universe, and was projected to gross $45–50 million from 3,490 theaters in its opening weekend.^[48] The film made $24.7 million on its first day, including $7.7 million in previews.^[49] It went on to debut to $55 million, topping the box office and marking the highest opening weekend of the franchise.^[50][51]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 22% of 125 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.1/10. The website's consensus reads: "Taking a stab at modern horror movies and missing more than it cuts, Scary Movie's self-referential callbacks and tired gags make for a stunted return to what was already a hit-or-miss franchise."^[52]

Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 38 out of 100, based on 27 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.^[53] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale, while 63% of those polled by PostTrak said they would "definitely recommend" it.^[50]

Owen Gleiberman of Variety criticized the selection of films chosen to parody, suggesting that titles such as Midsommar and entries in the The Conjuring franchise would have provided stronger material. He wrote, "The majority of the jokes come off as more asserted than delighted. And maybe that's because the film doesn't feel like it's discovering anything new about what's happening between the lines of the Scream genre".^[54] David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter thought the opening scene was the highlight of the film, "but it's pretty much downhill from there". He ended his review with, "This 'rebootiquel', as one of the characters refers to it, needs fresh inspiration and not just a lazy retread of the same old meta contortions if it's to have a life much beyond its opening weekend".^[7]

Jesse Hassenger of The Guardian rated the film two stars out of five, calling the jokes "thin on the ground" and that it "should have stayed in the 2000s".^[55] Writing for Empire, Kim Newman gave it a score of two out of five. He wrote "The last ten minutes before the extended end-credits almost start to be funny, playing on tension between the cast holdovers from the first Scary Movie and the younger generation — but it's a long haul to get there".^[56] Alison Foreman of IndieWire gave it a C+ grade, praising Faris and Hall but writing that the film "manages to come across as thoughtless and toothless at the same time."^[57] Richard Roeper for RogerEbert.com gave the film 2 out of 4 stars, criticizing the choice of films it parodied and suggesting it should have primarily parodied modern horror movies such as Get Out, Sinners, and Weapons. Roeper praised the twist ending.^[58]