SUBMITTED BY Timbo

October 27, 2003 — "Scary Movie 3" took in almost $50 million at the box office over the weekend, while Angelina Jolie's "Beyond Borders" didn't even crack the top ten with $2 million. The result is a huge boost for Miramax and for David Zucker, who will also direct "Scary Movie 4".

"Scary Movie 3" was a lesson in resurrecting a declining franchise. Created by the Wayans brothers, "Scary Movie" was a surprise hit in summer 2000, with a total gross of $157 million. Their "Scary Movie 2" the following spring smacked of a rush job and did less than half the business of its predecessor.

Miramax, whose Dimension banner releases the "Scary Movie" flicks, tapped David Zucker (news), part of the team behind the disaster-film spoof "Airplane!" and the police parody "The Naked Gun," to direct "Scary Movie 3."

The audience was mainly younger than 25, but Zucker's involvement helped bring in older adults, Miramax co-founder Bob Weinstein said.

"David Zucker almost semi-invented this genre," Weinstein said. "You have those people who loved `Airplane!' but said, ah, `Scary Movie,' that's not for me, then going, oh, Zucker's doing it?"

Miramax also broadened the audience to younger teens by toning down the raunchy sight gags, holding "Scary Movie 3" to a PG-13 rating. The first two "Scary Movie" installments were rated R.

"The traditional wisdom is you don't mess with a franchise formula because you run the risk of alienating the core audience," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "In this case, the combination of retooling it and making it more accessible with a PG-13 rating was a perfect combination."

Zucker is returning to direct "Scary Movie 4," due out late next year, Weinstein said.

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