EXCLUSIVE: Marlon Wayans is adapting the favored Munhwa Broadcasting Company’s S. Korean sport present Midnight Horror Story for U.S. audiences, along with his producing companion Rick Alvarez, via their Ugly Child Productions and Craig and Clara Plestis of Sensible Canine Media (The Masked Singer).
Sensible Canine Media is collaborating for a second time with MBC Korea to carry a well-liked S. Korean sport present to the States, constructing on their success with Fox’s The Masked Singer (recognized initially as King of Masks Singer).
The U.S. model will characteristic well-known actors who, in every episode, will ship chilling but comedic tales, dropped at life via immersive, cinematic reenactments, in keeping with the official logline. The set itself will encompass performers within the sights and sounds of every story, heightening the worry issue.
The purpose is for every movie star to make use of their performing prowess to inform the scariest story. The present’s hidden mystic viewers of spirits (a mixture of dwell in-studio and digital viewers members) will illuminate a candle at any time when they discover a story actually horrifying. The movie star who earns essentially the most candles will probably be topped the winner. The brand new sequence will amplify the comedy components as a key issue of the format.
MBC’s Midnight Horror Story premiered with a 1.8% nationwide score, in keeping with Nielsen Korea, for each elements of its first episode, outperforming competing packages in the identical time slot. The episode featured hosts Shin Dong-yup, Kim Sook, Park Na-rae, Hwang Je-seong, and Heo Anna sharing viewer-submitted ghost tales.
The sport present, now in its fifth season, continues to be common with viewers, and it has expanded considerably into the digital house. The core viewers is youthful viewers, who primarily watch through OTT and YouTube slightly than dwell TV, MBC touts. Seventy-nine clips of Midnight Horror Story have surpassed 1 million views on YouTube, with the preferred reaching 3.94 million views.
“With the success of Scary Film and the ‘A Haunted Home’ franchise, Rick and I’ve all the time had an affinity for the mash-up of horror and comedy. This challenge matches completely in our wheelhouse,” shared Wayans.
The duo launched Ugly Child Productions in 2013 to provide filmed leisure with an entrepreneurial spirit that reaches massive international audiences. They’ve had three #1 international hits on Netflix: Bare, Sextuplets, and The Curse of Bridge Hole; the indie franchise A Haunted Home; Marlon Wayans: Good Grief on Amazon Prime Video; the documentary Unraveling George; and three comedy specials on HBO Max: Marlon Wayans: God Loves Me, Marlon Wayans: You Know What It Is, and Marlon Wayans Presents: The Headliners. Their TV credit embrace the NBC comedy Marlon, the NBC movie star competitors present I Can Do That, and the TBS comedy competitors sequence Funniest Wins, amongst others.
Subsequent up, Ugly Child Productions will produce the sixth installment of the “Scary Film” franchise for Paramount and Miramax. The movie is about to hit theaters on June 12, 2026. Wayans is repped by 3 Arts, UTA, and Yorn, Levine. Alvarez is repped by 3 Arts, UTA, and Yorn, Levine.
Emmy award-winning Sensible Canine Media, with the Plestises on the helm, is seeking to replicate their enormous international success with The Masked Singer with Midnight Horror Story. Each had been created by MBC Korea and solely tailored for the American market by Sensible Canine. By way of their collaboration with Wayans, Sensible Canine is seeking to carry one other actuality competitors present to the U.S. They’re repped by Paradigm.
