Arguably one of the best things to come from 2020 has been the announcement of yet another installment of the Scream franchise. Yes, the beloved slasher series seemingly came to an end back in 2011 when Emma Roberts showed up as our final girl Sidney Prescott’s cousin and (spoiler) the masked murderer trying to kill her. However, Wes Craven’s legacy will continue with original fan favorites like Neve Campbell, David Arquette and Courteney Cox reprising their roles as Sidney Prescott, Dewey Riley and Gale Weathers, respectively.
Having the beloved trio back is a great start, but another good sign is that the film will be at the hands of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett: the filmmakers behind 2019’s Ready or Not, which balanced horror, humor, gore, romance, and a satire regarding class structure. To any and all horror-fanatics who have not yet seen it, do so asap. The director duo apparently even wrote a letter to Campbell at the beginning of the process and expressed how much of an inspiration Craven was for them, and their desire to do right by his legacy and his art with Scream 5. In a recently-released statement, they said “It’s impossible to fully express how much Wes Craven’s work and the Scream movies in particular mean to us as fans and have influenced us as storytellers. Kevin Williamson’s incredible stories have entertained and inspired us for decades and we’re insanely honored to have the opportunity to be a part of the cinematic world Wes and Kevin so brilliantly created together.” There is certainly high hopes for what the two will do for what seems to be a huge passion project of theirs.
But, of course we can also expect some newcomers who seem to be playing the ages that Sidney and her classmates were in the original Scream. While there is yet to be any details on who the actors will be playing and what their relationships will look like, those who have been definitely signed on include You’s Jenna Ortega, Jack Quaid of The Boys, and from the upcoming film In The Heights and Vida, Melissa Barrera.
And if you are surmising that the film will not hit theaters for quite some time, you are correct. COVID-19 has certainly slowed things down for production and the entertainment industry as a whole, but we still have a release date: January 14, 2022. However, according to a recent piece from The Hollywood Reporter, Spyglass is apparently looking to start principal photography in late 2020 when the industry will hopefully be getting back to work following, so there is a chance that Scream 5 will grace the screen sooner than expected, maybe even during Halloween of 2021.
The main point that we seem to be missing is the plot. Nobody knows whether it will be a continuation, or even the start of something totally modernized and almost separate from the original story. So whether you’re a serious fan of the infamous Ghostface, or you’re just curious to see how a new generation takes on a classic slasher, definitely stay tuned to see what other information is released in the near future. And even more importantly, while I can’t promise for sure that it will be worthy of high praise, as a loyal fan and a sucker for a long-standing trilogy, I must urge you to mark your calendar and go see Scream 5 when it comes out!