In light of today’s opening of Scary Movie 5, which is directed by Malcolm D. Lee, a quick Did You Know? post – although I’m sure some of you are already aware of this.

Did you know that the highest domestic grossing movie ever directed by a black director is the very first Scary Movie, which launched the successful franchise?

Who directed it? Keenen Ivory Wayans.

It was released in the summer of the year 2000, and grossed $157,019,771 domestic (although, when domestic and international box office are combined, it’s beaten by the 2 Fantastic Four movies Tim Story directed, which both didn’t do as well as Scary Movie did domestically, but saw larger international box office takes).

And not only did Keenan Ivory Wayans direct the first film (as well as the second), he created the franchise with his younger brothers, Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans – a franchise that has collectively grossed over $818 million in global box-office. 

Of course the Wayans Brothers left the franchise after the first two films (and it was all downhill from there), which grossed over $400,000 combined, worldwide. I wonder what percentage of that money they received in the end…

The series got progressively worse after the first one, which is not only the highest grossing film in the franchise, but also the highest rated by critics. 

And now it’s been rebooted in 2013 with Scary Movie 5, which disregards the events of the previous films and begins a new storyline, with a return to a black director in Malcolm D. Lee. Unfortunately, it’s off to a bad start critically, with the reviews in thus far panning it. Although there aren’t enough for a consensus yet, because the film wasn’t screened early for the press, which usually tells you something about it.

But I’m sure it’ll open strong this weekend, regardless.

Anyway, now you know… Keenen Ivory Wayans’ Scary Movie is the highest grossing (domestic) film ever directed by a black director.