Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett to Direct New ‘Scream’ Sequel
The team behind this year’s successful ‘Scream’ are headed back to Woodsboro for more horror.
'Scream' 2022 Poster Courtesy of Paramount
Do you like scary movies? Paramount is hoping you do.
With this year’s ‘Scream’ legacy sequel scoring big business at the box office already, the studio is ready to take yet another stab at the long-running horror franchise.
The company, alongside production company Spyglass, have the same team responsible for that movie returning to create more terror for the residents of the not-always-sleepy town of Woodsboro.
Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, part of the filmmaking collective known as Radio Silence, will direct again, with the script courtesy of returning writers James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick.
The latest ‘Scream’ – which was simply known by that name, rather than ‘Scream 5’, successfully relaunched the franchise when it opened in January. To date, it has earned more than $62.6 million domestically and $106.7 million worldwide. It brought audiences back to Woodsboro, where a new killer wearing a Ghostface mask stalked a group of young friends.
Among the new faces introduced were Melissa Barrera’s Sam, Jack Quaid’s Richie, Mikey Madison’s Amber, Jenna Ortega’s Tara, Dylan Minnette’s Wes, Jasmin Savoy Brown’s Mindy, and Mason Gooding’s Chad, many of whom had links to characters from the original movies.
There were also appearances from franchise veterans Courteney Cox, David Arquette and Neve Campbell.
(L to R) David Arquette and Courteney Cox in Paramount Pictures "Scream."
Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett should have the cameras rolling this summer, with the plot being kept secret. Though surely, we know the formula by now: some references to other horror movies, a scary phone call or two and lots of running, screaming, slashing, and slaying. And as for who will be back? We won’t spoil those who don’t survive this year’s movie.
The ‘Scream’ franchise, of course, started life in 1996 with Wes Craven’s original movie, written by Kevin Williamson. It deconstructed the genre with characters mentioning rules for surviving horror movies and still layered on plenty of terror for the teenagers who are targeted by the masked killer.
Craven went on to make three more movies, each more referential than the last, and tackling different themes such as the pressure to make a sequel and movie adaptations of horror tales.
“We are tremendously grateful to the fans around the world who enthusiastically received our film. We can’t wait for audiences to see what Radio Silence, writers Jamie & Guy and Project X have in store for our Woodsboro family,” Spyglass and Paramount said in a joint statement.
“Working with such a wonderful and talented family of creators — and in the lineage Wes and Kevin so expertly built — has been the thrill of a lifetime, and we’re so excited to bring the next chapter in the ‘Scream’ saga to life,” Radio Silence added.
“Is this real life? Getting to collaborate once again with our friends on the next installment of the ‘Scream’ story is more than we could have hoped for,” commented writers Vanderbilt and Busick. “We are overwhelmed that we get to continue to play in the sandbox that Kevin and Wes created. It is, as Ghostface would say, an honor.”
