While it’s true that Scream fans’ appetite for more installments of the iconic slasher series will never be satisfied, they’ve been particularly starved these last two decades. 2011’s Scream 4 was the last time fans returned to the sleepy town of Woodsboro, California. Prior to that, there was an 11 year gap following Scream 3, which hit theaters back in 2000.
Reports and rumors of a fifth film in the franchise have been making the rounds for years now. Following the untimely passing of director Wes Craven (A Nightmare On Elm Street) in 2015, all that chatter nearly fizzled out. And understandably so. After all, Craven has been at the helm of every Scream film to date. With the creative nucleus now suddenly out of the picture, any development on such a project would have been put on hold indefinitely, if not entirely scrapped.
Then, in 2018, another bump in the road only further delayed the possibility of Scream 5. The Weinstein Company, which had been the home of Ghostface, Sydney, and the rest of the gang since 1996, suddenly went belly-up following the sexual assault court cases of company co-founder and Hollywood juggernaut Harvey Weinstein.
In July of that same year, TWC sold the bulk of their film library, including the rights to the Scream films, to Lantern Entertainment. The new owners of the much-lauded Weinstein catalog partnered with former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer CEO Gary Barber to revive Spyglass Media Group.
Just when all hope seemed lost, the news that fans had been waiting eagerly to hear for so long finally dropped. Spyglass is indeed in development on Scream 5. A few months later, in March of 2020, it was announced that Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, the directing duo behind last year’s hit horror-comedy Ready or Not, would be taking over where Wes Craven had left off.
In the months since, the cast of Scream 5 has slowly but surely started filling out. Faces both familiar and foreign have joined the project, including original series stars Courtney Cox and David Arquette. While Neve Campbell has yet to officially sign on, she did confirm to Entertainment Tonight back in May that she is currently in talks to reprise the role of Sydney Prescott for the new film.
More recently, the announcement was made that In The Heights and Vida star Melissa Barrera has been book for what Deadline is calling “a key role” in the Scream 5. Barrera is now officially the first new cast member to join the project. As is always the case with these older franchises, mixing in new blood is essential to drawing in younger potential fans to the franchise.
Cameras are due to roll in Wilmington, North Carolina, this fall and the project is due to wrap by year’s end. Additional casting is underway. Make sure to stay tuned into Movie Minutes for more Scream 5 updates as they’re announced.
What do you make of this story? Do you think that Spyglass is going in the right direction with the fifth film? Or would you have preferred to have seen the slate wiped clean for a new start? Sound off in the comments below and let me and the rest of the movie-loving world know your thoughts!
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