Movies
“Bubba Ho-Tep” Author’s ‘Christmas with the Dead’ Becomes a Feature!
Joe R. Lansdale, prolific author of such notable stories as the “Hap and Leonard” series of novels, “The Bottom’s” and the unforgettable “Bubba Ho-Tep,” the first of his works to be made into a movie, is about to bring his very own zombies to the big screen! Lansdale’s latest short story, to be released in early 2011, is ready to be made into a movie: Christmas with the Dead. The author has previous undead entries with “Dead in the West”, “On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert With Dead Folks,” and most recently “Deadman’s Road,” as well as an entry in BOOM!’s comic, “Zombie Tales”. Here’s the plot crunch: “It was a foolish thing to do, and Calvin had not bothered with it the past two years, not since the death of his wife and child. But this year he decided quite suddenly, that tomorrow was Christmas Eve. And zombies be damned, the lights and decorations are going up…” More info inside!
In addition to Lansdale, who will act as executive producer, already signed on to the project are Damian Maffei (Closed for the Season) as the lead, Brian James Fitzpatrick (Throwaway) who is set to direct, and Marcus Koch (Sweatshop, 100 Tears) with Oddtopsy F/X who is scheduled to create the special effects for the movie.
Shooting is scheduled to begin this June in Nacogdoches, Texas, where Lansdale has lived with his wife for the past thirty years. In a nod to Joe’s affiliation as writer-in-residence at the Stephen F. Austin University, Lansdale will be employing the use of many of the students, as well as the use of some of the school’s state of the art equipment. Joe sees this association with the university as an opportunity to give the students a hands-on film-making experience.
“Based on my short story of the same name, Christmas with the Dead is now in pre-production,” said Lansdale. “I’m excited about it moving forward and very fortunate to have some fine people at the helm. I’m looking forward to begin filming this summer.”
Fitzpatrick is thrilled to be part of the project. “It’s all coming together very quickly – taking on a life of its own – which I think is what happens with strong projects where everyone has the same vision; the same passion. And a Lansdale zombie movie is pretty damn strong.”
As for the merry movie and the plight of it’s hero: “It was a foolish thing to do, and Calvin had not bothered with it the past two years, not since the death of his wife and child. But this year he decided quite suddenly, that tomorrow was Christmas Eve. And zombies be damned, the lights and decorations are going up…”
The horror spoof franchise is back in a big way with brand new installment Scary Movie, which slashes through the Scream franchise and the recent rise of legacy sequels. It’s the first installment in the franchise since 2013 and the first to involve the Wayans brothers since Scary Movie 2 way back in 2001, making it a true legacy sequel in its own right.
But are audiences still hungry for horror spoofs? Well, Scary Movie just had the highest grossing opening weekend in franchise history with $55 million at the U.S. box office. That allowed Scary Movie to top the domestic box office, beating out mega hits Obsession and Backrooms. Paramount released Scary Movie in 3,490 theaters across the U.S. for its debut.
What’s particularly impressive here is that Scary Movie absolutely demolished the big budget Masters of the Universe movie, both films embarking on their debut weekend at the very same time. While Scary Movie debuted with a healthy $55 million, Amazon MGM’s Masters of the Universe made just $29.3 million across its opening weekend here in the United States.
Worldwide, Scary Movie opened with a whopping $105.5 million, suggesting that the appetite for the Wayans brothers’ particular brand of comedy remains strong here in 2026. It helps that horror in general is as hot as ever at the box office, with the pre-summer movie season being absolutely dominated by record-breaking box office stories from the horror genre.
Not adjusted for inflation, the previous U.S. opening weekend high for the franchise was Scary Movie 4 with $49.7 million, with that installment released over 20 years ago in 2003. When talking worldwide totals, the highest grossing installment remains the original Scary Movie with $278 million back in 2000 (unadjusted for inflation), which will be the number to beat.
The reported production budget for Paramount’s new Scary Movie was just $30 million, ensuring that the franchise’s sixth installment will be turning a healthy profit in theaters.
Scary Movie is 24% rotten on Rotten Tomatoes and film’s CinemaScore was a C+, but the film is proving itself to be review-proof at the box office. Will the negative reviews tank the film in its first full week of release? We’ll report more on this box office story as the week progresses.
Marlon Wayans (“Shorty”), Shawn Wayans (“Ray”), Anna Faris (“Cindy”), and Regina Hall (“Brenda”) reunite for the new Scary Movie, with the cast also including Dave Sheridan, Lochlyn Munro, Cheri Oteri, Chris Elliott, Jon Abrahams, Damon Wayans Jr., Gregg Wayans, Kim Wayans, Benny Zielke, Cameron Scott Roberts, Heidi Gardner, Olivia Rose Keegan, Ruby Snowber, Savannah Lee Nassif, Sydney Park, and Felissa Rose.
Twenty-six years after outrunning a suspiciously familiar masked killer (“Ghostface”), the Core Four are back in the killer’s crosshairs and no horror movie IP is safe…
Scary Movie will slash through reboots, remakes, requels, prequels, sequels, spin-offs, elevated horror, origin stories, anything with the word legacy in it, and every “final chapter” that absolutely isn’t. A whole lot has changed in the horror genre since the Wayans Brothers were in charge of the franchise; their involvement ended with Scary Movie 2 back in 2001!
Michael Tiddes (A Haunted House) directed the new Scary Movie.
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