Paramount and Spyglass are bringing Sidney Prescott and Ghostface back to theaters yet again with “Scream 7,” the latest installment in a series that successfully made the leap from a Gen X/elder millennial horror classic to one of the most consistent moneymakers in the genre at the post-pandemic box office.
Paramount is keeping its projections conservative at a $40 million domestic opening weekend, particularly after box office trackers overestimated the Valentine’s Day opening of “Wuthering Heights” earlier this month. But theater owners tell TheWrap they are optimistic that the movie can pass the $44.5 million domestic/$66.4 million global franchise record set by “Scream VI” in early 2023.
If it does, it would prove the durability of the “Scream” series after three decades in the pop culture zeitgeist, especially given that several of the key figures in the franchise’s revival series are not present for this project, forcing a major creative reshuffle.
That pivot began in November 2023 after one of the film’s lead stars, Melissa Barrera, was fired from the series over social media posts speaking out in support of Palestinians killed by Israeli military attacks on Gaza following the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks.
Spyglass deemed the posts to be “antisemitic” — a claim Barrera pushed back against — saying in a statement regarding the termination that it has “zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form, including false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust distortion or anything that flagrantly crosses the line into hate speech.”
Afterwards, Barrera’s co-star Jenna Ortega chose to leave the series, as did “Happy Death Day” director Christopher Landon, who was set to take the reins from previous directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett after they left “Scream” to direct a sequel to their 2019 slasher film “Ready or Not” that hits theaters this April.
In an interview with The Cut last year, Ortega said she didn’t want to continue with “Scream” without her key creative collaborators.
“If ‘Scream 7’ wasn’t going to be with that team of directors and those people I fell in love with, then it didn’t seem like the right move for me in my career at the time,” she said.
Landon echoed that sentiment in an interview for Ashley Cullins’ “Scream” retrospective book, “Your Favorite Scary Movie,” saying he had signed on to direct a “Scream” movie written around Barrera and her character, Sam Carpenter, the illegitimate daughter of the original Ghostface killer, Billy Loomis.
“There was no movie anymore. The whole script was about her,” he said.”I didn’t sign on to make a ‘Scream’ movie.’ I signed on to make that movie. When that movie no longer existed, I moved on.”
So with the core of the revival series gone, Spyglass has put “Scream” back in the hands of two of the key creatives who launched the series with the late Wes Craven 30 years ago. Kevin Williamson, who wrote the script for the first two installments and “Scream 4” in 2011, will make his series directorial debut from a script he wrote with “Scream 5” and “Scream VI” co-writer Guy Busick.
And stepping back into the lead role is the series’ original star, Neve Campbell, as repeated Ghostface survivor Sidney Prescott. After starring in the first five films, Campbell declined to appear in “Scream VI” over pay issues. But now she is back in a film where a new Ghostface killer is targeting Sidney’s daughter, Tatum, played by Isabel May.
Despite Barrera and Ortega’s absence, the excitement of “Scream” fans both new and old does not seem to be dulled in any way, as presales are strong across the board even as women under 30 — the cohort that has turned out strongest for the “Scream” revival — remain slightly ahead as the key cohort.
Give credit to “Scream 5” for that sustained interest. Even as it took the franchise’s signature meta approach to the very concept of a legacyquel, it did exactly what the most successful legacyquels from “Creed” to “Top Gun: Maverick” do: unite longtime fans and younger newcomers in getting invested in both the classic characters and the next generation.
And that’s particularly essential for a horror series like “Scream,” which like “The Conjuring” with The Warrens or “Halloween” with Laurie Strode derives as much of its staying power from the fans’ love for the protagonist as it does from its concept or its iconic villain. Prior to “Scream VI,” this series was built around Sidney Prescott, establishing her as one of the greatest survivors in slasher history.
Getting pay commensurate with that value to the franchise is why Campbell chose not to take part in “Scream VI.” Now, her return comes with a reported $7 million salary for “Scream 7,” a raise that accounts for the majority of the Paramount/Spyglass co-production’s budget increase to $45 million compared to $35 million for “Scream VI.”
If the strong presales for “Scream 7” lead to sustained audience buzz, then that investment will pay off. Paramount has been working hard to prevent spoilers, with reviews still not released for the film at time of writing. But as the introduction of Sidney’s daughter suggests, “Scream 7” will be focused more on the character’s legacy and reputation than ever before.
“The Conjuring: Last Rites,” which grossed nearly $500 million last year, showed what happens when horror fans fall in love with a hero. Neve Campbell can show that again.
