Ashley Tisdale takes over the lead in 'Scary Movie 5'

After some hilarious missteps trying to get Scary Movie 5 off the ground, Dimension Films finally righted the course in April with the hiring of Malcolm Lee(Undercover Brother) to direct the long running spoof franchise. There was just one problem: Anna Faris made it pretty clear in April that she's too good for it she won't be back as dim-witted Cindy Campbell, so that left an opening for a new face to take over. While I hoped it would be series co-star Regina Hall stepping into the lead, it'll instead be somebody making her first foray into the series.

High School Musical star, Ashley Tisdale, will take over as one of the leads in the film, according to a press release by The Weinstein Company. This means there will be others, so expect more casting to be revealed soon. Maybe we'll see Faris and Hall come back to get a proper exit at the end of the Ghostface's knife?

Series head honcho David Zucker will be back to produce and co-write the script, which will again be poking a wet comedy noodle at a ton of different genres beyond horror.  Scary Movie 5 is set to open on January 11th 2013. Hopefully they can hit the target date this time.