Are you one of the remaining fans who contributed to the $90-million haul Scary Movie 4 brought in at the box office? If so, I hope that series star Anna Faris wasn’t what drew you to the horror-spoof shenanigans, because common sense says that she’s likely not sticking around for the newly announced Scary Movie 5. Cinema Blend has it on good authority that the Weinstein Company is gearing up for a fifth trip to the comedy well. Only this time around the objective appears to be orbiting Hollywood’s favorite new buzzword: reboot.

Now rebooting a franchise that, by design, is a free-flow of unconnected, topical plot points from entry-to-entry means that the studio plans on getting rid of the one thing that unites all of the films together: Anna Faris as the delightfully vacant Cindy and Regina Hall as Cindy’s amusingly verbose best friend Brenda. Personally I think that’s a terrible idea, as Faris and Hall play so well off each other that they are, by far, the only good thing remaining about the series. But if the agenda is to reboot the franchise, then that means they’ve got to go.

From the business side of things it does make sense. More recognizable than Anna Faris is the Scary Movie brand name, so Joe and Jane Moviegoer are not going to be up in arms at the thought of a Cindy-less romp around familiar gags involving various bodily functions and people hitting their head on things over and over and over. All most will care about is seeing a new Scary Movie popping up in their local theater listings for the weekend, so the Weinsteins are fiscally wise to cut out the one element of the film that’s going to have a fixed price tag upfront. Considering Scary Movie 5 is bound to make similar returns with another cute final gal in its lead, the currently hurting studio doesn’t have much incentive to keep her around.

Since the franchise has already fallen from its crude R-rated upbringing into equally-crude, but more market friendly PG-13 territory, one could easily expect that the Weinstein Company will tap a new upcoming starlet to take over the comedic anchor. It’ll probably be someone in the periphery of the High School Musical crowd, which is a logical, if unwanted, path to take. However, once the decision is made to officially remove Faris from the equation, I don’t care what bright face they hand the role to. I’ll still only catch it on late-night cable.

Source: Cinematical.com

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