Marlon Wayans Adapting S. Korean Game Show ‘Midnight Horror Story’ For U.S. With ‘The Masked Singer’s Smart Dog Media
EXCLUSIVE: Marlon Wayans is adapting the popular Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation’s S. Korean game show Midnight Horror Story for U.S. audiences, with his producing partner Rick Alvarez, through their Ugly Baby Productions and Craig and Clara Plestis of Smart Dog Media (The Masked Singer).
Smart Dog Media is collaborating for a second time with MBC Korea to bring a popular S. Korean game show to the States, building on their success with Fox’s The Masked Singer (known originally as King of Mask Singer).
The U.S. version will feature well-known actors who, in each episode, will deliver chilling yet comedic stories, brought to life through immersive, cinematic reenactments, according to the official logline. The set itself will surround performers in the sights and sounds of each tale, heightening the fear factor.
The goal is for each celebrity to use their acting prowess to tell the scariest story. The show’s hidden mystic audience of spirits (a mix of live in-studio and virtual audience members) will illuminate a candle whenever they find a story truly frightening. The celebrity who earns the most candles will be crowned the winner. The new series will amplify the comedy elements as a key factor of the format.
MBC’s Midnight Horror Story premiered with a 1.8% nationwide rating, according to Nielsen Korea, for both parts of its first episode, outperforming competing programs in the same time slot. The episode featured hosts Shin Dong-yup, Kim Sook, Park Na-rae, Hwang Je-seong, and Heo Anna sharing viewer-submitted ghost stories.
The game show, now in its fifth season, continues to be popular with viewers, and it has expanded significantly into the digital space. The core audience is younger viewers, who primarily watch via OTT and YouTube rather than live TV, MBC touts. Seventy-nine clips of Midnight Horror Story have surpassed 1 million views on YouTube, with the most popular reaching 3.94 million views.
“With the success of Scary Movie and the ‘A Haunted House’ franchise, Rick and I have always had an affinity for the mash-up of horror and comedy. This project fits perfectly in our wheelhouse,” shared Wayans.
The duo launched Ugly Baby Productions in 2013 to produce filmed entertainment with an entrepreneurial spirit that reaches large global audiences. They have had three #1 global hits on Netflix: Naked, Sextuplets, and The Curse of Bridge Hollow; the indie franchise A Haunted House; 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 credits include the NBC comedy Marlon, the NBC celebrity competition show I Can Do That, and the TBS comedy competition series Funniest Wins, among others.
Next up, Ugly Baby Productions will produce the sixth installment of the “Scary Movie” franchise for Paramount and Miramax. The film is set 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 Smart Dog Media, with the Plestises at the helm, is looking to replicate their huge global success with The Masked Singer with Midnight Horror Story. Both were created by MBC Korea and exclusively adapted for the American market by Smart Dog. Through their collaboration with Wayans, Smart Dog is looking to bring another reality competition show to the U.S. They are repped by Paradigm.
