The Scream franchise continues to be a mark of consistency and quality with Scream VI. After reaching $116 million at the global box office over the weekend with $76 million stateside, the latest installment of the iconic horror series became the fifth Ghostface film to cross the $100 million threshold. It's already surpassed Scream 4, the lone film in the franchise to fall short of that nine-digit milestone, and is on pace to crack the total cume of its immediate predecessor Scream 5 from last year.
That Scream is still going strong six films in is a remarkable feat only made more miraculous by the fact that the series changed hands partway through. The first four films were under the direction of legendary horror filmmaker Wes Craven who sadly passed away in 2015. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett of Radio Silence, who have extensive experience with the V/H/S franchise as well as the excellent eat the rich film Ready or Not, took over for Scream 5 and managed to pull off the seemingly impossible feat of reigniting the franchise in a way that both moved it forward and paid homage to Craven and all the heart and soul he put into the franchise to that point.
Scream VI also faced its own challenges. It marked the first time in the franchise where neither Neve Campbell nor David Arquette was involved on-screen and while there was an understandable and tragic reason why fan-favorite Dewey Riley wasn't around, the pay dispute with Campbell clouded the film's outlook initially. Despite that, the hype for the film grew through a stellar marketing campaign and, when it was released in theaters, it managed to surpass expectations and set a new high watermark for a domestic premiere for the franchise at $44.5 million.
Scream VI Kept the Franchise at the Top of Fans' and Critics' Lists
The franchise's reputation for high-quality horror was reflected once again in the reviews. Rotten Tomatoes currently has the film Certified Fresh with a 77% critic score and a 92% audience score with plenty of praise coming for the big city setting, the core four, and for more gruesome kills. Collider's own Ross Bonaime also enjoyed the new take, giving Scream VI a B+ and praising its ability to ride the thin line of feeling fresh while still embracing nostalgia. With Scream still a force to be reckoned with and keeping a high quality unseen in other horror franchises, it's clear that a Scream 7 will be coming before long.
Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett return to the helm for Scream VI with an excellent cast including Melissa Barrera, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Jack Champion, Henry Czerny, Mason Gooding, Liana Liberato, Dermot Mulroney, Devyn Nekoda, Jenna Ortega, Tony Revolori, Josh Segarra, and Samara Weaving alongside franchise veterans Courteney Cox and Roger L. Jackson with Hayden Panettiere who returns from Scream 4 to hunt down Ghostface. In an effort to escape Woodsboro and start anew, the survivors of the last massacre are instead fighting for their lives in New York City in this latest installment.
Stay tuned here at Collider for more on the Scream franchise and check out our interview with Ortega and Barrera below.