Scary Movie (film series)

Scary Movie is a series of American parody films, mainly focusing on spoofing horror films. The franchise has a combined gross of almost $900 million at the worldwide box office and has received mixed to negative reviews from critics. A sixth film is in development.

Films

Scary Movie (2000)

Scary Movie is the first film of the franchise and directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans. It is the highest-grossing film of the franchise, with $278,019,771 worldwide.

The film's plot mainly spoofs Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), and it follows a group of clueless teenagers who are stalked by an incompetent serial killer; one year after disposing of the body of a man, they accidentally hit a man with their car.

Scary Movie 2 (2001)

Scary Movie 2 is the second film of the franchise and was also directed by Wayans. It grossed $141,220,678 worldwide and is the second lowest-grossing film of the franchise. This is the last film to receive an R-rating and also marked the end of the Wayans siblings' involvement with the franchise, until the development of the sixth film.

The film is a parody of House on Haunted Hill (1999), with the plot following a perverted college professor who plans to study ghosts inside a haunted mansion and uses the teens as bait.

Scary Movie 3 (2003)

Scary Movie 3 is the third film of the franchise and was directed by David Zucker. With $220,673,217 earned worldwide, it is the second highest-grossing film in the franchise. This was the first Scary Movie film to receive a PG-13 rating, as well as the first film to have no involvement from the Wayans family.

Michael Jackson planned to sue the filmmakers for Edward Moss parodying him in such a way that made him seem like a child molester and having a fake nose.

The plot of the film is a spoof of Signs and The Ring (both 2002). It revolves around strange crop circles found near an old farm and the circulation of an unusual videotape and Cindy helping the President to prevent an extreterrestrial invasion.

Scary Movie 4 (2006)

Scary Movie 4 is the fourth film of the franchise and was also directed by Zucker. With $178,710,620 at the worldwide box office, it ranks as the franchise's third highest-grossing film. It is the final film in the franchise to feature any of the original cast members.

The main target of spoof was War of the Worlds (2005). The film follows Cindy trying to solve the murder of a young boy that's haunting her house.

Scary Movie 5 (2013)

Scary Movie 5 is the fifth film of the franchise and was directed by Malcolm D. Lee. It is the only film in the franchise to be starred by Anna Faris and Regina Hall. It grossed $78,613,981 worldwide and became the lowest-grossing film of the franchise.

The film Mama (2013) is primarily parodied, and follows a couple that discovers, via the recordings of video cameras, that they and their three newly adopted children are being haunted by a mysterious demon.

Scary Movie 6 (2026)

In April 2024, it was announced that a new film was in development, with producer Neal H. Moritz attached to the project. Production will be financed entirely by Miramax, while Paramount Pictures will distribute the movie. Principal photography is expected to commence in late 2024 and is projected for a 2026 release date. It will be the first film in the series not to be produced by Dimension Films (due to the company being inactive since 2019) and the second film in the series to be produced by Miramax. In October 2024, it was confirmed that the Wayans brothers would reunite for the first time in 18 years to develop the new film. The film is scheduled to release on June 12, 2026.

Recurring cast and characters

Additional crew and production details

Production

Parodies

Scary Movie's main parodies are of Scream (1996) and I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997). The rest of its elements are of The Exorcist (1973), The Shining (1980), Kazaam (1996), Election (1999), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003), The Matrix, The Blair Witch Project, and The Sixth Sense (all three 1999).

Scary Movie 2's primary target is The Haunting (1999). The rest of the film contains traces parodies of House on Haunted Hill (1959) and its 1999 remake, The Legend of Hell House, The Exorcist (both 1973), The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), The Amityville Horror (1979), The Changeling (1980), Poltergeist (1982), Bloodbath at the House of Death (1984), Titanic (1997), I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998), Stigmata (1999), What Lies Beneath, Hollow Man, Charlie's Angels, Dude, Where's My Car? (all four 2000), and Hannibal (2001).

Scary Movie 3's general parodies are of Signs and The Ring (both 2002). It also features elements of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Airplane! (1980), The Others (2001), Minority Report, 8 Mile (both 2002), and The Matrix Reloaded (2003).

Scary Movie 4's parodies are of The Village, The Grudge (both 2004), the Saw franchise (2004–present), and War of the Worlds (2005). It also parodies Million Dollar Baby (2004) and Brokeback Mountain (2005).

Scary Movie 5's central areas of satire are the Paranormal Activity films (2007–2021), Black Swan (2010), Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), and Mama (2013). Other notable parodies are those of the Madea films (2005–present), Inception (2010), Fifty Shades of Grey, The Cabin in the Woods (both 2011), Sinister (2012), and Evil Dead (2013).