Marlon Wayans, IM Global and Open Road will revisit “A Haunted House,” the horror spoof that has taken in more than $40 million at the box office. Wayans, who co-wrote and starred in the first film, will handle the same duties on the sequel, tentatively titled “A Haunted House 2.”
IM Global will finance and produce through its genre label, Octane, while Open Road will distribute – again, the same jobs those companies handled on the first film.
Though reviled by critics – it has a 6 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes – “A Haunted House” was one of the year’s first big surprises at the box office. Made for about $2.5 million, the film opened to $19 million the weekend of January 11.
For the sequel, Wayans will work with Rick Alvarez, who co-wrote and produced the initial film.
“Rick and I are excited about embarking on this journey again,” Wayans said in a statement. “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)!”
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Open Road plans to release the film this winter with production set for the summer. Wayans will appear on screens this weekend in "Scary Movie 5" and also has a role in the upcoming Melissa McCarthy/Sandra Bullock comedy “The Heat.”
"Marlon Wayans is one of the funniest and hardest working talents in the movie business,” Open Road chief Tom Ortenebrg said 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.”
The first film also starred Cedric the Entertainer and Nick Swardson, but no announcements have been made about casting for the sequel.