Scary Movie: Scream 7 Roars to a Franchise-Best $59M Opening as Neve Campbell and Kevin Williamson Return
Scream 7, the latest scary movie in the long-running franchise, is headed to a franchise opening record of $59M after a $28M Friday that includes previews. The number arrives as Neve Campbell returns to the center of the story and franchise architect Kevin Williamson takes the helm.
Scary Movie: Box office and preview records
Updated Friday midday: Scream 7 is on track for a $59M opening after a $28M Friday that included previews. Updated Friday AM after Thursday PM exclusive: preview figures came in higher Friday with $7. 8 million, a franchise record for previews. Earlier in the week Paramount had a $7. 5 million previews figure cited for Thursday; Scream VI previously opened to $44. 4M domestically, and its combined previews/first-Friday figure was $19. 2M.
How AI and deepfakes bring back old faces
The film uses A. I. deepfake videos as a central plot device: the new Ghostface killers use deepfakes of Sidney Prescott's past to taunt Neve Campbell's Sidney Evans (formerly Prescott). Matthew Lillard's Stu Macher plays the most prominent role in that scheme. Scott Foley, Matthew Lillard and David Arquette were among key returns that leaked around the time Scream 7 wrapped filming, and all three are characters who had been killed off in earlier films; two of them were past Ghostface killers.
In the film the two primary Ghostface killers, Jessica (Anna Camp) and Marco (Ethan Embry), toy with Sidney to make her think Stu survived and became a John Doe patient at the Fallbrook psych hospital before being released. The context makes clear that the real Stu died when Sidney slammed a television onto his screaming face in the 1996 original.
Williamson returns and the Macher house opening
Kevin Williamson, who earned his first screenplay credit on the 1996 Scream and later penned Scream 2 and Scream 4, is credited on the Scream 7 screenplay alongside James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick, and Williamson also directs. Scream 7 brings Campbell back to the center of the story after prior sequels shifted settings: Scream 2 to college, Scream 3 to Los Angeles, and Scream VI to New York. Sidney Prescott had been a supporting character in Scream 4 and Scream (the confusingly titled Scream 5) and absent in Scream VI.
The movie opens with a violent sequence at Stu Macher's house that doubles as fan-service and a warning about nostalgia. Scott (Jimmy Tatro), a devoted "Stab head, " brings his girlfriend Madison (Michelle Randolph) to the house now run as an "experience destination" complete with memorabilia, outlines of where killers fell dead and plaques marking victims. Madison subverts expectations but still dies; the opening kills are described as more vicious than in earlier entries and closer in graphic tone to the torture-porn trend that followed Scream 3 — a trend cited as part of why the franchise went fallow for 11 years. The film also nods to franchise history with a passing RIP for Randy.
Returns, cameos and the nostalgia reveal
Beyond Stu, Scream 7 stages a big-finish reveal that brings back other dead characters deepfakes: Roman Bridgers (Scott Foley), Sidney's long-lost stepbrother and the killer from Scream 3; Dewey (David Arquette), Sidney's close friend who died during the events of the fifth Scream; and Mrs. Loomis (Laurie Metcalf), the mother of Billy Loomis and one of two Ghostfaces from Scream 2. Each projection taunts Sidney with its own barbs.
Jasmin Savoy Brown's Mindy Meeks-Martin sums up the film's theme with the line, "This time it's all about nostalgia. " Isabel May, who plays Sidney's eldest daughter, had signaled the A. I. component in an earlier interview; the provided context for her remark is unclear in the provided context. Matthew Lillard said he felt "so much anxiety, so much fear, so much insecurity" about stepping back into Stu, calling the decision "a gamble of legacy" and adding that he would not have returned if he thought it would hurt the legacy.
RelishMix's prerelease social metrics put Scream 7's social universe at 264. 5 million — 11% above horror-franchise norms across TikTok, Facebook, X, YouTube and Instagram combined, but 27% behind Scream VI's 360. 5M reach. Neve Campbell brings 672, 000 social followers to the film's pre-activation, while Courteney Cox counts 20. 7M followers. RelishMix characterizes the conversation as mixed-positive and credits Campbell's return as strengthening word of mouth.
The Spyglass co-production was put into motion under the previous Paramount Brian Robbins administration, while the current administration under marketing czar Josh Goldstine takes the win for the franchise opening record. Market reaction included PSKY stock trading at $13. 51 at the time of the post, up 21% after news of Warner Bros realizing Paramount's superior offer. Scream VI's franchise-preview record had been $5. 7M, and its global debut was $66. 4M. Paramount didn’t return request for — unclear in the provided context.
Box-office tallies for the full weekend remain to be finalized; Scream 7 was projected at a $59M opening and the broader frame a year ago did $54. 4M per Box Office Mojo. Final weekend totals will determine how frontloaded the film’s grosses prove to be.
