Marlon Wayans Returns to Horror 20 Years After Being Shut Out of Scary Movie Franchise
When Marlon Wayans said, “F-ck you, now watch what I create,” in response to his family’s cult classic franchise “Scary Movie” being essentially “snatched” away from them, he meant it.
After two decades since releasing the hit comedy film and its sequel by the same name, Marlon is back and set to star and produce an upcoming untitled Halloween project for Netflix, according to Deadline.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – AUGUST 08: Marlon Wayans attends the Los Angeles Premiere of MGM’s “Respect” at Regency Village Theatre on August 08, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
As per the description, the adventure-comedy “follows a teenage girl, played by ‘Stranger Things’ breakout star Priah Ferguson, who after accidentally unleashing an ancient and mischievous spirit on Halloween, which causes decorations to come alive and wreak havoc, must team up with the last person she’d want to in order to save their town — her skeptical father,” played by the “Requiem for a Dream” star.
In May, while speaking with Kevin Hart on the “Comedy Gold Minds” podcast, the 49-year-old set the record straight regarding why fans hadn’t seen his family a third or fourth installment of the movie. In short, Marlon claimed poor negotiations with Dimension Films — an extension of Miramax Films, which is owned by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, lead to his family’s departure from the highly successful franchise after the first two films.
“We didn’t walk away from a franchise, they didn’t want to make our deal, and they snatched it,” he explained. The first two movies starred Marlon and his brother Shawn and were directed by their eldest brother Keenan Wayans. The films earned $270 million and roughly $141 million in global box office ticket sales, respectively.
“They was like, they just did, Weinstein did some really terrible, like rape and pillage villages type of business,” he elaborated. “That’s just the way they did their business, so it wasn’t that we, we ever walked away from our franchise that we created, it was taken and us being the creatives that we are was like, ‘All right, bet. F–k you, now watch what I create.’
Deadline reports the untitled film will be directed by Jeff Wadlow, who is best known for work on “Cry Wolf,” “Truth or Dare,” and “Fantasy Island.” Rob Rugan, Todd Berger, John R. Morey will co-write. In addition to starring in the project, Wayans will also produce alongside his longtime producing and writing partner Rick Alvarez under their Ugly Baby Productions banner. Nathan Reimann will also produce the film, with Wadlow as an executive producer. No word on when exactly the movie is set to premiere.