Scary Movie
The film's cast are seen sitting in a cinema.
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Michael Tiddes
Written by
  • Marlon Wayans
  • Shawn Wayans
  • Keenen Ivory Wayans
  • Craig Wayans
  • Rick Alvarez
Based on
Characters
by
  • Shawn Wayans
  • Marlon Wayans
  • Buddy Johnson
  • Phil Beauman
  • Jason Friedberg
    Aaron Seltzer
Produced by
  • Marlon Wayans
  • Shawn Wayans
  • Keenen Ivory Wayans
  • Craig Wayans
  • Rick Alvarez
Starring
  • Marlon Wayans
  • Shawn Wayans
  • Anna Faris
  • Regina Hall
Cinematography Terry Stacey
Edited by Jonathan Schwartz
Music by Haim Mazar
Production
companies
  • Miramax[1]
  • Wayans Bros. Entertainment[2]
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date
  • June 5, 2026 (2026-06-05)
Running time
96 minutes[3]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $30 million[4]

Scary Movie (colloquially known as Scary Movie 6) is a 2026 American horror-parody film directed by Michael Tiddes and written by Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Craig Wayans, and Rick Alvarez. It is the sixth installment in the Scary Movie film series, following Scary Movie 5 (2013), and the spiritual sequel to the first two films.[5] It stars Marlon, Shawn, Anna Faris, and Regina Hall. The plot follows Cindy Campbell and her friends Ray Wilkins and siblings Shorty and Brenda Meeks reunited when the same masked killer from the first film resurfaces.

A sixth Scary Movie film was announced in 2024 and later that same year, it was revealed to have the involvement of the Wayans family for the first time since their departure from the franchise following the release of Scary Movie 2 (2001) due to creative conflicts with the original producers.

Scary Movie is scheduled to be released in the United States by Paramount Pictures on June 5, 2026. It received negative reviews from critics.

Premise

A group of friends reunite when a masked killer they encountered 26 years ago returns.[6]

Cast

See also: List of Scary Movie (film series) characters
  • Marlon Wayans as Shorty Meeks[7]
  • Shawn Wayans as Ray Wilkins[7]
  • Anna Faris as Cindy Campbell[7]
  • Regina Hall as Brenda Meeks[7]
  • Damon Wayans Jr. as Agent Underwood[8]
  • Gregg Wayans as Brad Meeks, Brenda's son and Dei's twin[9]
  • Kim Wayans as Nurse Ratchett[7]
  • Benny Zielke as Jess, Greg's transgender son[9]
  • Cameron Scott Roberts as Jack, Sara's boyfriend[9]
  • Cheri Oteri as Gail Hailstorm[7]
  • Chris Elliott as Shorthand[9]
  • Dave Sheridan as Doofy Gilmore and the voice of Ghostface[7]
  • Heidi Gardner as Agent Berger[7]
  • Lochlyn Munro as Greg Phillippe[7]
  • Olivia Rose Keegan as Sara Campbell, Cindy's older daughter[9]
  • Ruby Snowber as Val, Brad's girlfriend[9]
  • Savannah Lee Nassif as Tuesday Campbell, Cindy's younger daughter[9]
  • Sydney Park as Dei Meeks, Brenda's daughter and Brad's twin[9]
  • Kenan Thompson as Michael Jackson / "Jermaine"[10]
  • Jon Abrahams as Bobby Prinze[9]
  • Teyana Taylor as herself[9]
  • Felissa Rose[11]
  • Anthony Anderson as himself[12]
  • Carmen Electra[13]
  • Shaquille O'Neal as himself

Production

Development

The film marked the return of brothers Marlon (left) and Shawn Wayans (right) as producers, co-writers, and stars of the franchise since Scary Movie 2 (2001).

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.[14] In October 2024, it was revealed that the Wayans brothers—Marlon, Shawn and Keenen Ivory—would return as screenwriters and producers, marking their first collaboration in 17 years; they co-wrote Scary Movie (2000) and Scary Movie 2 (2001), both films directed by Keenen Ivory and starring Marlon and Shawn as Shorty Meeks and Ray Wilkins, respectively. Rick Alvarez and Michael Tiddes were hired to co-write and direct, respectively, after collaborating with Marlon in other films.[15][16] It was produced by Marlon Wayans and Alvarez's Ugly Baby Productions label.[17] 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.[18] 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.[19][4]

Parodies

In September 2025, Marlon commented that recent horror films such as Get Out (2017), Nope (2022), Longlegs (2024), Heretic (2024), and Sinners (2025) could be parodied, as well as the Scream (1996–present) and I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997–present) franchises, which were primarily used for the plot of the original film.[20] The film also parodies the slasher Terrifier 3 (2024) and features appearances by Felissa Rose and Michael Leavy. The scene, which depicts Art the Clown blowing up a mall with children, was initially removed but later reinstated in a trimmed-down edit.[11] Get Out, Longlegs, Sinners, Scream (2022), and Scream VI (2023) were confirmed with the release of the film's trailer in March 2026, alongside Halloween (2018), Smile (2022), M3GAN (2022), The Substance (2024), and Weapons (2025), with references to Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th franchise, Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, Sue Ann "Ma" Ellington from Ma (2019), Wednesday Addams from Wednesday (2022–present), and the Heart Eyes Killer from Heart Eyes (2025).[21][22] The film also parodies the 2026 film Michael, with Kenan Thompson playing Michael Jackson; the character had previously appeared in Scary Movie 3 and Scary Movie 4, where he was played by Edward Moss.[10]

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.[23][24] In August 2025, Faris and Hall were confirmed to be returning in the film.[16] In September 2025, it was revealed Marlon would reprise his role as Shorty.[25] 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.[8]

In February 2026, Anthony Anderson, who portrayed Mahalik Phifer in Scary Movie 3 (2003) and Scary Movie 4 (2006), confirmed he would be returning for the film.[12] Following her exit from the pre-production of Scream 7 (2026), Melissa Barrera expressed an interest in appearing in the film in April 2024.[26] 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.[27]

Filming

Principal photography began on October 1, 2025, and wrapped on November 24.[28][29] Filming took place at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta.[30] To incorporate parodies of the recent films Sinners, Weapons and Michael, additional filming was done in April 2026.[31]

Post-production

Jonathan Schwartz edited the film,[32] and Haim Mazar composed the score.[33]

Release

Scary Movie is scheduled to be released in the United States on June 5, 2026 by Paramount Pictures, under its first-look deal with Miramax.[16][34] The film was originally scheduled to be released on June 12, but was moved up a week in March 2026 due to the positive reception of the teaser trailer following an Instagram post provided by Marlon.[35] It had its Hollywood premiere at the Paramount Theatre on June 3, 2026.[36][37]

Reception

Box office

In the United States and Canada, Scary Movie will be released alongside Masters of the Universe and Power Ballad, and is projected to gross $45–50 million from 3,400 theaters in its opening weekend.[38]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 30% of 57 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.4/10.[39] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 37 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.[40]

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".[41] 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".[42] 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".[43] Alison Foreman of IndieWire gave it a C+ grade, praising Faris but writing that the film "manages to come across as thoughtless and toothless at the same time."[44]

References

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