When Ghostface returns to the big screen, the knife-wielding masked murderer is primed to make a box office killing. “Scream 7,” the latest installment in the long-running horror franchise, is tracking a scary-good debut of $45 million to $50 million in North America. Those estimates would deliver a series-best kickoff, underscoring Paramount and Spyglass’ success in reviving a property that only 10 years ago was deader than one of the notorious slasher’s many victims.
Yet the journey back to theaters has been tumultuous, with a dramatic firing and high-profile cast and creative exits that required a major revamp of the script — and prompted a vocal backlash from fans.
In late 2023, Melissa Barrera, the star of 2022’s “Scream” reboot and 2023’s “Scream VI,” was fired from the seventh installment by Spyglass over social media messages the production company deemed antisemitic. After war broke out in Gaza that year, Barrera reshared a post accusing Israel of “genocide and ethnic cleansing” as well as a magazine article alleging the Israeli government was distorting “the Holocaust to boost the Israeli arms industry.”
Shortly after Barrera’s axing, her on-screen sister Jenna Ortega, whose profile has skyrocketed since she and Barrera joined the “Scream” team, announced she wouldn’t return for “Scream 7.” She cited scheduling conflicts with her hit Netflix series “Wednesday.” Amid the turmoil, the film’s original director, Christopher Landon, left the project because he was getting death threats over Barrera’s firing, even though he didn’t make the decision to boot her.
At a creative crossroads, “Scream” producers turned to franchise veteran Kevin Williamson to take over directing duties on the seventh film. He and Guy Busick, a writer on the prior two installments, co-wrote the screenplay — which needed a serious retooling given the exits of Ortega and Barrera, whose characters were the protagonists of “Scream VI” in lieu of Neve Campbell’s resilient heroine Sidney Prescott. Sources peg the cost of the rewrite at roughly $500,000, which they say isn’t a major expenditure for a franchise of this size.
With the sixth film, Paramount executives were concerned about making a “Scream” movie without Campbell, who didn’t return over a salary dispute. However, the studio’s say in the matter was limited because Spyglass had the final ruling on creative decisions. Any fears were quelled when “Scream VI” earned $161 million at the global box office, the biggest haul since the first two installments.
Without the red-hot Ortega on board for the sequel, though, Paramount and Spyglass knew they needed a killer marketing hook. Spyglass chief Gary Barber is known as one of Hollywood’s toughest dealmakers, but this time around, Campbell had more leverage to return. The actor was able to secure a nearly $7 million deal, a hefty raise and a major salary for the horror genre. Courteney Cox, who has appeared in every “Scream” film since the original 1996 slasher, was awarded a $2 million payday.
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“Neve Campbell is to ‘Scream’ what Jamie Lee Curtis is for the ‘Halloween’ franchise,” says Shawn Robbins, director of movie analytics at Fandango and founder of Box Office Theory. “She’s a big draw, especially for older generations who grew up with the original films.”
Paramount and Spyglass are banking on nostalgia, as well as the enduring popularity of horror, to propel the slasher series to new box office heights. (The studio is tempering expectations by projecting a debut closer to $40 million; meanwhile, rivals and independent tracking services are predicting the initial figure could exceed $50 million.) That’s because production costs on “Scream 7” began to balloon as the film was delayed a year. The seventh chapter carries a $45 million budget, up from the sixth film’s $35 million price tag. One source notes that inflation, which has impacted everything from set construction to travel expenses, is partly responsible for the bigger budget.
“Initially there was thought that the momentum from the two previous films could be lost. And there’s certainly a section of the audience that’s upset about who is not coming back,” says Robbins. “But now the pendulum is swinging. This is driving a lot of interest about how certain characters are coming back.”
And this likely won’t be Ghostface’s final reign of terror. Insiders suggest plans are already in place for the killer’s lethal return in an eighth film. Tell the survivors to hide their families.
From Variety US