Get ready for more laughs, America?
After bringing in more than $55 million worldwide on a reported budget of only $2.5 million, the Marlon Wayans horror spoof “A Haunted House” has been greenlit for a sequel by Open Road Films, with the tentatively-titled “A Haunted House 2” set to go into production this summer for a “Winter 2013-2014” release.
“Marlon Wayans is one of the funniest and hardest working talents in the movie business,” said Open Road CEO Tom Ortenberg in a statement. “Working with Marlon, producer Rick Alvarez and IM Global on ‘A Haunted House’ was a fantastic experience and we are thrilled to re-assemble the team for another hilarious movie.”
These warm sentiments were of course echoed by Wayans, who will presumably return as writer, producer and star of the follow-up: “[Co-writer/producer Rick [Alvarez] and I are excited about embarking on this journey again. IM Global has been a great, supportive partner and Open Road did a fantastic job marketing and releasing the movie. I”m looking forward to doing it again, mainly because of the fun we had the first time around. ‘Fun” is the keyword when doing funny. Let”s go (in my @iamdiddy voice)!”
Not to be left out of the press release circle-jerk session, Alvarez added that he “Look[s] forward to getting started on the next chapter of what we hope will become an incredible franchise. Our goal with the first movie was to create big laughs on a tiny budget and with the help of our partners, our creative team, and the tireless promotion of Marlon we were able to achieve that goal.”
And furthermore, says Stuart Ford of financier IM Global: “What Open Road achieved with the micro-budgeted first film was tremendous and we have every faith that we can now generate a hit sequel together.”
Ok, everybody good? Good. Now it’s time to watch Marlon Wayans give the artistically-bankrupt “Scary Movie” franchise a prolonged tongue-lashing.
Will you be seeing “A Haunted House 2”? Sound off in the comments.