Movies

Marlon Wayans: ‘I Think It’s Time’ for ‘White Chicks’ Sequel

BBG News

Marlon Wayans thinks “it’s time” to make a White Chicks sequel.

In the year 2004, the 52-year-old actor teamed up with his 54-year-old brother in an action-comedy. Recently, he hinted that a potential sequel of this film could be his next venture once he and his brother collaborate again on the development of Scary Movie 6.

On “Good Morning America,” I shared, “Folks often inquire, ‘When will we see the sequel?’ The affection for that film is evident.

Hey there, it seems like the moment has arrived. Shall we dive into making “Scary Movie 6” next, followed by reviving “White Chicks 2”? Let’s get this show on the road!

In the movie titled “White Chicks,” featuring actors like Terry Crews, Jamie King, and Brittany Daniel, the Wayans brothers portrayed two FBI agents transforming themselves into white women in an undercover operation aimed at thwarting a kidnapping scheme.

In my perspective as a film critic, while some audiences today find the ‘whiteface’ element in certain movies problematic, Marlon Wayans once passionately argued against the encroachment of cancel culture within the realm of humor.

He shared with Buzzfeed: “I’m unsure which world we inhabit, one where it’s believed that people don’t require humor, and that individuals should be silenced and ostracized. If a joke could lead to my being silenced, then I appreciate your assistance in accelerating that process.

He added it was “sad” that society was now “in this place where we can’t laugh anymore.”

I’m not paying attention to the current generation. I’m not interested in what those fearful individuals, those timid executives, have to say.

In the upcoming project, the Wayans are teaming up for “Scary Movie 6”. This film series is being revamped, with production duties being handled by Neal H. Moritz, who’s also known for his work on the “Fast and Furious” franchise.

Following their work on the initial two installments of the Scary Movie series, the Wayans chose to step away from the franchise for the following three films. Marlon asserted that these subsequent entries were taken from them by The Weinstein Company, which was headed by the now-disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein.

On the Comedy Gold Minds podcast, Kevin Hart explained: “We didn’t abandon a series. They refused to negotiate our contract, and they grabbed it… We never abandoned our franchise that we built. It was taken from us, and as creative individuals, we responded with, ‘Alright, you’re on.’ Now, see what I come up with.

Additionally, Marlon remembered finding out during the holiday season, over Christmas, that the family wouldn’t continue to be part of the show when they read a newspaper article about it.

He told me: “They forced us into the second one, but by the third one, they refused to pay, instead taking the money. We discovered on Christmas that they had hired someone else to carry out the task instead.

The Worst Movie Prequels in History

15. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Peter Jackson’s successful work on “The Lord of the Rings” made him an ideal candidate to adapt J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit”. The success and profitability of the three films based on “The Lord of the Rings” also led Jackson and others in charge to decide that “The Hobbit” should likewise be split into three movies. However, there was a challenge: while “The Lord of the Rings” was a trilogy of books, “The Hobbit” was only one book. Extending the content that far resulted in the final installment, “The Battle of the Five Armies”, which primarily consisted of a single, lengthy battle scene. The main antagonist from the previous films, Smaug, was quickly defeated within the initial minutes, leaving the following two hours and more without a significant dramatic focus. Nevertheless, it does feature all five armies!

14. Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights

In many instances, prequels fail to recognize that audiences were drawn to the original film not just by the plot, but also by the actors. For example, “Dirty Dancing” was a hit because of Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey’s captivating performances. Remove them from the picture, and what you’re left with is “Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights.” While Swayze makes an appearance as a dance instructor, the movie essentially retells the same story, this time set in Cuba instead of a Catskills resort. Diego Luna and Romola Garai star in this version, but the film itself was criticized for being subpar. To add to the controversy, Romola Garai alleged that producer Harvey Weinstein requested an unusual meeting with her in his hotel room, where she claimed he greeted her in only a dressing gown. She described the encounter as awkward and problematic. Indeed, “dirty” is an appropriate term for it.

13. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre film series is unique for having two entirely different prequels set in separate timelines. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre films, especially 2006’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning and its predecessor from 2003, often fail to impress (spoiler alert).

The prequel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, was born from the highly successful remake of Tobe Hooper’s original horror masterpiece. This prequel, set years before the remake, claims to explain Leatherface’s origin but falls short in making him more terrifying by revealing his motivation behind wearing human skin and using a gardening tool as a weapon. One reason why many horror prequels aren’t scary is that we know the villain can’t die or lose because they need to survive for the next movie.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning wasn’t a success, earning only half of what the remake made at the box office, and it marked the end of this particular Texas Chainsaw Massacre saga.

12. Leatherface

In the following years, Millennium Films acquired the rights and opted to produce a follow-up film to Tobe Hooper’s TCM series, titled Texas Chainsaw 3D. This movie was set decades after the original, and it performed reasonably well at the box office, leading to its own prequel, Leatherface. Unlike The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, this film presented a fresh take on Leatherface’s origins, portraying him as Jedidiah Sawyer, a boy who was placed in an institution due to his abusive family. To shield the children from their violent backgrounds, the facility altered their names. As a group of young inmates escape from prison later, it remains unclear which one will eventually transform into Leatherface, adding a unique twist to the story, but ultimately serving as a minor variation on the theme of chainsaw violence.

11. The Thing

In the context of “The Thing” (1982) movie, crafting a sequel would present several challenges. First, resolving the enigmatic ending is crucial but difficult without spoiling it. Second, expanding the scale and budget would be necessary to maintain audience interest, which might not be feasible. To circumvent these problems, the creators of the 2011 film opted for a prequel approach, or at least claimed they did. However, in essence, this film is essentially a remake with a new Antarctic research station dealing with another shape-shifting alien just before the events of John Carpenter’s masterpiece. The 2011 film isn’t disgraceful; it has some effective scares and boasts a talented cast including Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Joel Edgerton. However, its familiarity is detrimental to “The Thing” since the story relies heavily on surprising the audience with an unpredictable narrative and jolts.

10. Exorcist: The Beginning

As a devoted movie enthusiast, I must say that the cowardly essence of sequels has never been more evident than in the disastrous tale of this failed “Exorcist” sequel. Originally conceived as an entirely distinct project by Paul Schrader, it morphed into something else when the studio rejected his vision as too artistic and not frightening enough. In response, they brought on a new creative team to deliver a more conventional horror flick. They succeeded in making it scary; unfortunately, they failed miserably at crafting a compelling story. Stellan Skarsgard takes on the role of a young Father Merrin, the elderly priest from the original “Exorcist,” in his first confrontation with Pazuzu. The final product is about as dull an addition to a thoughtful film’s legacy as one could possibly imagine – until “The Exorcist: Believer” came along.

9. Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace

In the movie ‘Phantom Menace’, there’s a germ of an intriguing concept – a malevolent politician exploiting crises to amass power and erode democracy. However, this fascinating idea is unfortunately hidden beneath a heap of stale popcorn, filled with trade disagreements, comical incidents involving Jar Jar Binks, and those pesky midi-chlorians. Fortunately, the podrace and the battle against Darth Maul towards the end make up for it.

8. Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones

While “The Phantom Menace” has its flaws, “Attack of the Clones” takes it a step further. Hayden Christensen, especially in his maturity, seemed less effective than Jake Lloyd, particularly during the intense romantic scenes with Natalie Portman. The narrative is hard to grasp, and all the Jedi characters appear as if they’re unable to recognize the obvious puppet master manipulating them. Moreover, this movie’s portrayal of sand grates on me personally.

“The Phantom Menace” has its issues, but “Attack of the Clones” takes it a notch higher. Hayden Christensen didn’t impress as much as Jake Lloyd did, especially during romantic scenes with Natalie Portman. The story is confusing, and the Jedi characters seem clueless about who’s controlling them. Plus, I find the sand depiction in this movie quite annoying.

7. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

The latest Harry Potter prequel, The Crimes of Grindelwald, falls far short of the original Harry Potter series, almost reaching levels of incompetence and tedium worthy of legal charges for crimes such as dullness. Despite being marketed as a means to explore the Wizarding World of the Harry Potter films, it seems to have achieved a certain Seinfeld-like void of purpose. The narrative is punctuated by confusing action scenes where characters engage in stiff dialogues about plot devices or their histories, or in one particularly disappointing sequence, discussing the backstory of one character, only for another character to contradict and rewrite it entirely. Later, it’s revealed that both initial accounts were incorrect, and the character had a third identity altogether. One might wonder why this series, initially about an eccentric man hunting magical beasts, has deviated so far from its original premise? The only thing it appears to clarify is the intentions of those involved in prolonging a franchise that should have ended naturally long ago.

6. Hannibal Rising

In many prequels, there lies a significant challenge: They frequently aim to delve deeper into enigmatic characters, such as the captivating yet enigmatic serial killer Hannibal Lecter in ‘Hannibal Rising’. However, it’s challenging to provide a satisfying explanation for the inexplicable. This often leads to oversimplified psychological analysis or scenes that attempt to disclose unnecessary details about characters whose motivations were already clear initially. In the case of ‘Hannibal Rising’, this issue is compounded as both occur. Was Hannibal Lecter’s mask necessary to have an origin? Perhaps he just donned a mask over his mouth in ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ because he was a cannibalistic murderer, not due to some similar mask he discovered during his time in France in the 1950s with his Japanese aunt who was teaching him samurai ways. (You heard it here; this movie is quite far-fetched.)

5. X-Men: Apocalypse

In X-Men: Apocalypse, they chose to bury the dashing Oscar Isaac under 60 pounds of hideous blue makeup, make him speak in a goofy voice, and have him perform awkward actions like placing his hand on a TV screen and utter “Lllllleeeeeeearniiiiiiing.” This misuse of Oscar Isaac is just one of the many flaws in X-Men: Apocalypse. It also featured a goofy opening credits sequence and wasted all the momentum and goodwill built by its predecessor, X-Men: Days of Future Past, which was far superior.

4. The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas

The initial live-action Flintstones movie wasn’t quite like the man-dawn scenes from 2001: A Space Odyssey, but it did boast an impressive cast (John Goodman, Rick Moranis, Kyle MacLachlan, Elizabeth Taylor) and stunning production design. This prequel, however, featured a completely different ensemble (Mark Addy as Fred, Stephen Baldwin as Barney, Alan Cumming as the Great Gazoo), and it included some jokes about prehistoric Las Vegas. I’ve always found Roger Ebert’s half-star review of this film intriguing, which includes this quote: “This movie is perfect for infants who can appreciate the vibrant screen colors and sway their little hands to the music. Young kids might enjoy it because they simply like going to the cinema. However, it lacks charm, humor, or excitement, and for extended periods, it appears as if actors are merely standing in front of large rocks reciting sitcom lines.

3. 300: Rise of an Empire

As a film enthusiast, I must confess that if all the slow-motion scenes in “Rise of an Empire” were played at their normal pace, this movie would barely last 35 minutes. It’s a feature-length film stretched thin by an overabundance of speed ramping, making it stultifyingly slow. Oh boy, if you delight in watching CGI swords slash through men’s muscular torsos, followed by dramatic gushes of artificial blood, then this is your “Citizen Kane.” The only thing or person who appears even slightly lively and authentic is Eva Green, who exudes a captivating performance as a Persian admiral engaged in a sword-fighting love affair (you know, the classic trope). She truly gives off a video game vibe — but at least it seems like a fun one.

2. X-Men Origins: Wolverine

The quirky title gives you a good idea of what the movie is about. Could it be an X-Men film, a Wolverine solo adventure, or the origin story? Why not make it all three? If director Gavin Hood had concentrated on one aspect, he might have created a decent film. However, this production was already in trouble when it was planned as a blend of several different X-Men and Wolverine tales. “We didn’t sign up for this,” Hugh Jackman’s Logan grumbles at Liev Schreiber’s Victor in X-Men Origins, a line that also applies to the film itself. Other lines like “We’ve done enough!”, “You look like a man about to do something wrong,” and my personal favorite, “Wake me when it’s over” can be seen as comments on the poor quality of X-Men Origins.

1. Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd

When you attempt to create a “Dumb and Dumber” movie without the Farrelly brothers, Jim Carrey, or Jeff Daniels, what you end up with is an unamusing disaster. In this version, Eric Christian Olsen and Derek Richardson play the roles of the two protagonists as teenagers instead. However, they fail to deliver humor, and even reliable supporting actors like Eugene Levy, Cheri Oteri, and Bob Saget fall short in their attempts. The movie “Dumb and Dumberer” can be given credit for one thing: its title is surprisingly fitting, if not more so than the original.

Read More

2025-02-24 18:25

Previous post Watch the record-breaking Sonic the Hedgehog 3 at home today
Next post Lizzie Cundy Stuns in Leather Jacket at Sydnie Christmas’ West End Debut with Bruno Tonioli!