Anthony Anderson Returns as Shawn Wayans Reclaims Scary Movie
Anthony Anderson is returning for the new Scary Movie after Marlon Wayans called him, and he made it clear the timing fits the franchise’s return to the family. Anderson said on the red carpet at the Peabody Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Sunday, May 31, that he is back for Scary Movie 6.
“Yo, Ant, you want to be down in Scary Movie 6?” Wayans asked him, Anderson said, adding: “Hell yeah, it’s about time we get to work together.” The film arrives June 5, the first Scary Movie since 2013.
Marlon Wayans and Shawn Wayans
Anderson said he did not realize Marlon Wayans and Shawn Wayans were not involved with the franchise when he joined Scary Movie 3. “You know, when I took the job for Scary Movie 3, I was excited about doing the job because I thought I’d be working with my friends Marlon and Shawn and the entire Wayans family. I had no idea that they had left the franchise, and this [was] now just a Miramax production. So for me to do Scary Movie 3 and Scary Movie 4, it was great to do that, but I thought I was going to be doing it with my friends,” he said.
Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans originated the franchise with the 2000 original and 2001’s Scary Movie 2. Keenen Ivory Wayans directed those first two films, and Miramax moved ahead with a third entry in 2002 after Keenen, Shawn and Marlon signed a deal with a different film studio.
2002 to 2013
Anderson’s return lands after a long gap in the series and after Marlon Wayans spent months publicly describing how the family got the property back. On May 25, he said the Weinstein brothers refused the Wayans’ demands for raises to make a third Scary Movie and added, “The franchise was stripped from us.” He also said, “And we were just asking for our fair share.”
That history now sits behind a cast that includes Regina Hall and Anna Faris in the new film. Wayans has described the project as a reboot rather than simply the franchise’s sixth entry, and Anderson said the production went really well.
Scary Movie 7 talk
Anderson also said the return may not stop with one movie. He said there are already discussions about making a seventh Scary Movie and bringing everybody back from the franchise from the beginning. “I can’t tell you what’s happening in the film, but you’re going to be thoroughly entertained,” he said, before adding, “I can tell you this, no holds are barred.”
For a series that spent 11 years off-screen, the immediate signal is simple: the Wayans family has the property back in circulation, Anderson is in the cast, and June 5 now carries a franchise relaunch that is already being framed as something larger than a one-off return.
