The man who gave us “White Chicks” and “Little Man” says he’s here to save comedy.
That’s right, Marlon Wayans says it’s time to resurrect politically incorrect comedy, and he plans to do it with his upcoming “Scary Movie 6.” In a new interview with EW, Wayans says the sequel is going to “cancel the cancel culture” …
What we’re trying to do is bring back laughter. This is about bringing back comedy the way it used to be. I think the only way to do it is you have to cancel the cancel culture.
In a 2022 interview, Wayans trashed the idea of cancel culture, stating, "It's sad that society is in this place where we can't laugh anymore. I ain't listening to this damn generation. I ain't listening to these folks, these scared-a-- people, these scared executives. Y'all do what you want to do? Great. I'm still gonna tell my jokes the way I tell them."
One look at the recently released trailer, and you get a sense of what Wayans is saying — or at least what he’s attempting to do. There’s a they/them pronoun joke, along with a “safe space” quip and a line about how “Republicans are supposed to be racist.”
Theatrically, the comedy genre has struggled to produce a true hit. The last “successful” studio comedy, 2023’s “No Hard Feelings,” came closest, earning a modest $87M worldwide. Before that, you’d have to go back to 2018’s “Game Night,” which grossed $117M globally.
No one expects Wayans to deliver a masterpiece — this is, after all, a franchise that prides itself on juvenile humor, along with a long-running reliance on gay jokes. Still, “Scary Movie 6” will likely be a sizable hit for Paramount, potentially fulfilling our wildest dreams by actually greenlighting “White Chicks 2.”
And what about Paramount? The studio’s modus operandi is becoming clearer by the day: bringing formerly canceled creatives like Max Landis, John Lasseter, Johnny Depp, and Brett Ratner onto major projects; firing Melissa Barrera from “Scream 7”; and now releasing a comedy that markets itself as anti–cancel culture. A new era may be taking shape in Hollywood.