Anthony Anderson Opens Up About His “Scary Movie ”Return After Marlon and Shawn Wayans 'Wrestled the Franchise Back' (Exclusive)

Tommy McArdle, Amanda Champagne-MeadowsTue, June 2, 2026 at 11:00 AM UTC

0

Anthony Anderson on May 31, 2026; Marlon Wayans and Shawn Wayans on May 30, 2026
Credit: Monica Schipper/Getty; Jason Mendez/Getty -

Anthony Anderson tells PEOPLE he didn't realize Marlon Wayans and Shawn Wayans weren't involved with the Scary Movie franchise in the 2000s until after he joined for Scary Movie 3

Anderson returns for the new Scary Movie and says Marlon called him soon after he "wrestled the franchise back into the family name"

Scary Movie, the first entry in the series since 2013, is in theaters June 5

Anthony Anderson is returning to the Scary Moviefranchise the way he originally intended to join it: with Marlon Wayans and Shawn Wayans behind the wheel.

Anderson, 55, famously appeared in the third and fourth entries in the Scary Movie franchise in the mid-2000s. On the red carpet at the Peabody Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Sunday, May 31, he told PEOPLE that back in the day, he signed on to those movies without realizing that franchise creators Marlon, 53, and Shawn, 55, were not involved.

"It's great," Anderson says of the franchise's new entry, which hits theaters Friday, June 5. "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."

"And then they went on to do Scary Movie 5, and then Marlon wrestled the franchise back into the family name, and I was one of his first phone calls to make," Anderson says. "He was like, ‘Yo, Ant, you want to be down in Scary Movie 6?' I was like, 'Hell yeah, it's about time we get to work together.' "

Anthony Anderson, Simon Rex and Charlie Sheen in Scary Movie 3
Credit: Rob Mcewan/Dimension/Miramax/Kobal/Shutterstock

Shawn and Marlon originated the Scary Movie franchise with 2000's original, a parody of popular '90s slashers like Scream, and its 2001 sequel Scary Movie 2. Their older brother Keenen Ivory Wayans directed the original two movies.

Miramax — the studio that was once owned by Harvey Weinstein and his brother Bob Weinstein — moved forward with a third Scary Movie entry in 2002 just after Keenen, Shawn and Marlon signed a deal to work with a different film studio, as Entertainment Weekly reported at the time.

Advertisement

Marlon has said as recently as in a May 25 interview with Variety that the Weinstein brothers refused the Wayans' demands for raises to make a third Scary Movie and subsequently stole their idea for Scary Movie 3. "The franchise was stripped from us," he said in that interview. "And we were just asking for our fair share.”

The actor, writer and comedian announced that he and his brothers would return to make a new Scary Movie entry in October 2024. The new movie sees the return of franchise leads Regina Hall and Anna Faris, and Wayans described it as a "reboot" to Variety rather than the series' sixth entry.

— sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Anthony Anderson in Scary Movie 4
Credit: Dimension Films

On the red carpet at the Peabody Awards, Anderson told PEOPLE that there are already discussions regarding making a seventh ScaryMovie "and bringing everybody back from the franchise from the beginning."

"It went really well," he says of the movie's production. "I can't tell you what's happening in the film, but you're going to be thoroughly entertained. I can tell you this, no holds are barred."

Scary Movie is in theaters June 5.

on People

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”