Wait, what?!?! In some ‘are you sure you want to do this?’ news, a new Scream movie is on the way.
Courtesy of Bloody Disgusting, Gary Barber’s Spyglass Media Group is at work on bringing the Scream franchise back to the big screen. At this early stage, there’s no word on whether this film will be an outright Scream 5, a reboot, a remake, or a new story that exists within the established canon of the franchise.
From director Wes Craven and writer Kevin Williamson, 1996’s Scream changed the landscape of horror. Poking fun at overplayed genre tropes and the cliché-ridden mess horror had become, Scream also managed to remain a true terror ride while being so meta in its perspective. It was genius, it was perfect, it was the kick in the backside that the horror genre needed at that point in time.
The iconic Craven would return to helm Scream 2 in 1997, Scream 3 in 2000, and Scream 4 in 2011, and Williamson would likewise be back for the third and fourth movies – Ehren Kruger stepping in on writing duties for Scream 3. Since then, the Scream franchise was spun into a TV series that ran for three so-so seasons on Netflix and then VH1.
Wes Craven sadly left us in 2015, and this new Scream offering will also not have Kevin Williamson involved in any capacity. Which raises even more alarm bells at revisiting such an iconic property without the two principal minds behind the franchise being involved – particularly if the film ends up being a standard sequel to the four prior Scream films.
The reason that Spyglass is able to push forward with a new Scream picture is due to the company assimilating Lantern Entertainment back in March. What’s Lantern Entertainment got to do with things, we hear you ask? Well, Lantern picked up all of Dimension Films’ assets and properties once Dimension was plunged into bankruptcy after the Harvey Weinstein allegations. And you guessed it, one of those Dimension properties was indeed the Scream franchise.
As ever, expect more on this as we get it. In the meantime, we’ll sit here looking perplexed, frustrated, and mouthing “Why?!” as we reminisce about this beloved horror franchise.
