The Scary Movie Franchise: An Obituary

The fifth installment in the Scary Movie series landed with a deafening thud at the box office this weekend, representing the biggest blow to a franchise since Kobe Bryant was injured a few days ago. Blogger’s note: for those who read this blog and really only follow the film world, Bryant is a professional basketball player who plays for a team in southern California.

It was expected to be a tight race between the two wide release titles this weekend – Scary Movie V and 42. Didn’t turn out that way – the well-reviewed baseball drama 42 surpassed most expectations with a terrific $27 million gross. Scary Movie V only managed a tepid $15 million.

Let’s put that in perspective, shall we? It had been seven long years since a Scary Movie. The third and fourth installments both grossed over $40 million in their opening weekends. Scary Movie V may struggle to make that much total in its domestic gross. Not good.

It is worth noting that the production budget for the film is reportedly only $20 million, so it will draw a profit. Still, perception is reality and its opening can be looked at only as a massive failure.

As you may recall, the Scary Movie franchise was started by a well-known comedic family. Keenan Ivory Wayans directed the first two and they featured both Marlon and Shawn Wayans. Shot for $19 million, the original was an unexpected box office smash in the summer of 2000 that grossed an astonishing $278 million worldwide.

Its success meant the immediate making of a sequel and Scary Movie 2 followed just a year later. It made a solid $141 million worldwide, though it was considered a slight disappointment in relation to its predecessor’s numbers. The first sequel also earned a considerable amount of scorn from critics who were much harsher on it as compared to the original.

A new team would take over for #3 and #4. David Zucker did the directing duties. He is the man partly responsible for the Airplane! and Naked Gun series. Different actors ranging from Charlie Sheen to Leslie Nielsen to Kevin Hart joined the mix. Released in 2003 and 2006, 3 and 4 were box office hits with grosses of $220 and $178 million, respectively.

What are my thoughts on the series? For lack of a better word – eh. I was never a huge fan of the original, truth be told. Don’t get me wrong – it’s got some truly funny moments. However, I never got over my main critique. Scary Movie is essentially a spoof of Scream, which itself is a horror movie spoof. I always felt Scream was so effective in sending up the slasher genre and that a “spoof” of Scream felt kind of unnecessary.

As for the sequels, they’re all watchable enough, but nothing special. I’d say Scary Movie 3 is probably the funniest overall of the sequels. I must admit I love the scene that spoofs the death of Mel Gibson’s wife in Signs, where Charlie Sheen must say good-bye to Denise Richards. That scene works well.

So what went wrong with Scary Movie V? The answer may be simple – it’s been seven damn years and audiences have moved on. It also had a rather strange marketing campaign, focusing on tabloid stars Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan (who apparently are only in one scene). It never seemed likely that moviegoers were going to rush out to watch actors they enjoy watching more on TMZ.

In an ironic twist, Scary Movie V is only the second highest debuting horror spoof of the year (out of two). A Haunted House opened in January to a better than expected $18.8 million. The star of that picture? Marlon Wayans, veteran of the Scary franchise.

The fifth installment brought in a new director, Malcolm D. Lee, best known for making Undercover Brother with Eddie Griffin. That’s not saying much. The future of the Scary Movie franchise appears bleak at best. #5 really isn’t performing well enough to warrant a sixth. Perhaps the studio will bring in new talent to try and reinvigorate the series. Maybe the franchise will simply go the straight-to-DVD route from now on. Or this could truly be an obituary post for a once thriving film series that has now fallen by the wayside.