Scream 7 is yet another box office hit in the meta slasher series that started in 1996. It opened to a franchise-best $64.1 million domestically and a near $100 million globally. Despite this level of success, director Kevin Williamson has already made it clear he has no intention of returning for the inevitable sequel, which would mark part 8 in the franchise.
In an interview with HelloSidney.com, Williamson (who wrote the very first Scream movie) gave an emphatic “No” to the question of whether he would return for a sequel. He stated, “It’s nice to be part of the Scream family. That doesn’t mean I always have to be front and center. I don’t always have to write or direct. Other people can take the reins.”
It’s a measured response, non-controversial. But it’s not a reach to argue there’s more than enough reason to let someone else take over after the very rocky and very controversial implosion of the original version of Scream 7, which shook up the entire production.
Williamson was handed a rough hand when he took over Christopher Landon as director following the departures of Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega. Barrera was vocal about the Israel-Palestine conflict, which led to her removal from the film. Ortega dropped out soon after, with Landon following suit once he saw there wasn’t much of a movie left to work with.
Barrera and Ortega had already been established as the future of the franchise with two films-worth of story and character development behind them. Their departure would simply require a soft reboot, which it essentially got by focusing on Sidney again. The wrinkle in the formula came in the form of Sidney’s daughter, who becomes Ghostface’s new target.
If this reminds anyone a bit of the last three David Gordon Green Halloween movies, where the character of Laurie Strode deals with the return of Michael Meyers and how her family is now in the crosshairs, then no one would blame you. Now-older legacy characters dealing with their trauma and the killers that caused it has become a cliché, a good idea overused. Sidney’s always been a part of the Scream franchise, but the shape her character takes in part 7 is not as fresh as one might think.
The reviews for the film range from lukewarm to downright abysmal, citing a tired formula not finding worthy enough reasons to exist and too much narrative recycling as the main culprits. Williamson came in not just as director but as co-writer on the script along with Guy Busick. They reportedly had to scramble for a story that pivoted entirely from the original because of the cast changes. Perhaps Scream 8 should be about the mishandling of an iconic horror franchise.
There seems to be more talk of the movie’s critical reception and troubled production history than of its impressive box office numbers. It’s a lot to expect audiences who were already invested in Barrera’s and Ortega’s characters to remain invested in the story after all the backstage drama played out in public, especially as it pertains to the unfair treatment of Barrera. Still, chances for a Scream 8 are extremely high. The numbers basically guarantee it. Unfortunately, it does look like it will be dragging along the shadow of a Scream 7 we never got.
