Scream

Scream started as a script called Scary Movie. Kevin Williamson wrote it in about three days, along with two five-page outlines for sequels. Several studios bid on it, and Miramax won. Williamson was paid between $400,000 and $500,000. The script was inspired in part by the Gainesville Ripper murders.

The film went to Dimension Films, the genre label of Miramax, which Disney owned at the time. Wes Craven signed on to direct. Cary Woods and Cathy Konrad produced, with Bob and Harvey Weinstein and Marianne Maddalena as executive producers. It was shot in Sonoma and Marin counties in Northern California from April 15 to June 14, 1996. Neve Campbell played Sidney Prescott, Courteney Cox played Gale Weathers and David Arquette played Dewey Riley. Drew Barrymore had been set to play Sidney but asked to play Casey Becker instead, so audiences would lose the biggest star in the first scene.

The mask came from a scouting trip. Marianne Maddalena spotted a Fun World Halloween mask inside a house the crew was looking at. Fun World sold it as the Peanut-Eyed Ghost in its 1991 to 1992 Fantastic Faces line. The company named it GhostFace in 1996, before the film came out. Roger L. Jackson did the voice on the phone, and Craven kept him away from most of the cast so the calls would feel real.

Scream opened December 20, 1996, against a crowded Christmas slate. The first weekend was only $6.35 million. Word of mouth kept it growing for weeks. It finished with $103 million in the United States and Canada and $173 million worldwide. It was the highest-grossing slasher film ever until Halloween (2018). It won Best Horror Film, Best Actress and Best Writing at the 23rd Saturn Awards and Best Movie at the 1997 MTV Movie Awards.

The sequels came fast. Scream 2 opened December 12, 1997, less than a year later, and set a December opening record with $32.9 million. Its script leaked online during production, and Williamson rewrote the ending while the film was shooting. Scream 3 followed on February 4, 2000. Williamson was busy with other work, so Ehren Kruger wrote it from Williamson's notes. After the Columbine shooting the story moved from Woodsboro to Hollywood and the violence was toned down. It was meant to close the series.

In 2005 the Weinsteins left Disney and took the Dimension name with them to their new company, The Weinstein Company. The first three films stayed in the Miramax library. The Weinstein Company announced Scream 4 in July 2008. Craven signed in March 2010, and the film opened April 15, 2011, on the fifteenth anniversary of the first day of shooting on the original. It was Craven's last film. It grossed $38.2 million in North America, the lowest in the series, and plans for two more sequels were dropped.

Television came next. MTV started developing a Scream series in June 2012 and aired it from June 30, 2015. It told a new story in the town of Lakewood with its own masked killer, because the network did not have the Fun World mask license. Wes Craven died of brain cancer on August 30, 2015, while the first season was on the air. Two seasons and a Halloween special ran on MTV. A rebooted third season, Scream: Resurrection, was shot in Atlanta in 2017 with the real Ghostface mask and Jackson's voice. It sat on the shelf while the Weinstein scandal played out and finally aired on VH1 over three nights in July 2019.

The Weinstein Company filed for bankruptcy on March 19, 2018. Lantern Capital bought its assets for $289 million that July. In March 2019 Lantern and Gary Barber folded those assets into Spyglass Media Group, and Scream was one of the franchises it held. Spyglass announced a new Scream film in November 2019. Radio Silence, the directing team of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, was hired in March 2020, and Paramount came on as distributor that June. When Spyglass sold most of the old Weinstein library to Lionsgate in 2021, it kept Scream.

The fifth film was called Scream, with no number. It opened January 14, 2022, and was dedicated to Wes Craven. It brought back Campbell, Cox and Arquette alongside a new cast led by Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega as sisters Sam and Tara Carpenter. Dewey died in it. It knocked Spider-Man: No Way Home out of first place. Scream VI followed on March 10, 2023, moved the survivors to New York, and became the first film in the series without Sidney after Campbell turned down the offer over pay. It opened to $44.4 million and passed $100 million in North America.

The seventh film nearly fell apart. Radio Silence left in August 2023 and Christopher Landon was hired. Spyglass fired Barrera on November 21, 2023, over social media posts about the war in Gaza. Ortega's departure was reported the next day. Landon quit in December, saying the script had been built around Barrera's character. In March 2024 Campbell announced she was coming back, and Kevin Williamson was hired to direct his first Scream film. Scream 7 was shot in Atlanta from January to March 2025 and set Sidney in Pine Grove, Indiana, as a wife and mother.

Scream 7 opened February 27, 2026, the first film in the series released in IMAX. Critics gave it the worst reviews of the series, 30 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences came anyway. Thursday previews brought in $7.8 million and the weekend $63.6 million, both series records. It became the first Scream film to pass $200 million worldwide. The Numbers puts it at $213.8 million. It came out on digital March 31, streamed on Paramount+ from May 28 and hit 4K, Blu-ray and DVD on June 16, 2026. The same month it opened, Paramount and Spyglass went to court over who owns the Ghostface design, a fight that settled in May 2026.

The first film turns 30 in 2026. Midsummer Scream and Paramount Scares held a Woodsboro reunion in Long Beach from August 7 to 9, with Matthew Lillard, Skeet Ulrich, David Arquette, Jamie Kennedy, Joseph Whipp, Roger L. Jackson and Marco Beltrami, and a copy of Bradley Video, the store where Randy worked. Paramount announced there that Scream would go back into select theaters on October 30, 2026. Varese Sarabande and Craft Recordings put Beltrami's score back out on vinyl on August 28. The year also brought sad news. Hayden Panettiere, who played Kirby Reed, died August 16, 2026, at 36.

As of September 2026 the franchise stands at seven films, three seasons of television and about $1.125 billion at the worldwide box office. Williamson said in March 2026 that he would not direct the next film. On March 31, 2026, Spyglass and Paramount announced Scream 8 with Lilla and Nora Zuckerman, the showrunners of Poker Face, writing the script. They are the first women hired to write a Scream film. No director, cast or release date has been announced. Executive producer Marianne Maddalena told Variety that filming could start in fall 2026, but no start date has been confirmed. At the Toronto film festival in September 2026, Courteney Cox said she would like to direct one.

Craven kept a recurring group of collaborators around him and encouraged their ideas without making his sets confrontational. He learned crew members' names with the help of Polaroids and kept a birthday list. Lussier remembered their time at the editing console as a continuing lesson in performance, pacing and how a simple close-up could carry an emotion.

Before directing films, Craven studied at Wheaton College, earned a master's degree at Johns Hopkins and taught English at Clarkson College. W. Earl Brown recalled Craven describing the conflict between his strict religious upbringing and his growing questions about it. Iya Labunka recalled that an unexplained paralysis at nineteen left him unable to move for about a year, an experience she believed changed his outlook. During that hospital stay he met his first wife, Bonnie Broecker, the mother of Jonathan and Jessica; her brother, scientist Wallace Broecker, later helped him enter Johns Hopkins. A student film club encouraged his interest in filmmaking. After moving to New York, he worked as a cabdriver and messenger, learned editing and met Harry Chapin and Sean Cunningham. Cunningham helped bring about The Last House on the Left. Craven's later success in horror made it harder to persuade financiers and audiences to see him as a director of other kinds of films.

Williamson remembered Craven warning him against becoming confined to horror, advice that helped encourage his interest in Dawson's Creek. Music of the Heart gave Craven the chance to direct the kind of drama he had wanted to make alongside Scream. After Madonna left Music of the Heart, Craven wrote to Meryl Streep about the teachers who had shaped him and his wish to tell Roberta Guaspari's story. Streep recalled having only six weeks to learn enough violin for the role and practicing between scenes. His understated humor also reached the crew. When Peter Deming misheard a reference to a character named Dan as a dance scene, Craven and Streep turned the misunderstanding into a long-running joke with a choreographer and a staged rehearsal; Maddalena recalled Streep catching her leg on a marble table while playing along.

Between Scream 3 and Scream 4, Craven and Williamson reunited on Cursed (2005). Maddalena and Nicholas Mastandrea recalled that Craven had been preparing Pulse, an American adaptation of Kairo, before Bob Weinstein redirected the team toward Cursed. Patrick Lussier recalled that keeping the waiting Pulse crew employed was part of the offer that persuaded Craven to take it on. Plec described an earlier, unwritten concept about a dancer with a dormant werewolf gene who infects an attacker. Plec said the concept never reached a written script. The production that followed used three strangers caught in a Los Angeles traffic accident before rewrites made Ricci and Eisenberg's characters siblings. Repeated shutdowns, recasting and new endings made Cursed a difficult reunion for the Scream team. Lussier said a planned six-week editing assignment became nineteen months, and he retained workprints from its different incarnations. Maddalena remembered Craven counting down the end of his obligation to the Weinsteins. Pulse eventually appeared in 2006 under director Jim Sonzero, with Craven receiving a writing credit.

Lynn McRee recalled asking how he stayed calm after a difficult studio day and receiving a one-word answer: perspective. Lisa Beach remembered him challenging a generalization she made after an unpleasant audition, a small example of the fairness colleagues associated with him. Jamie Kennedy remembered dinner parties that brought people from Craven's different films together. After Craven's funeral in 2015, colleagues including Maddalena, Williamson, Plec, Beach and Mastandrea gathered at the Chateau Marmont. Their accounts describe a working community that continued beyond any one production. Horror writer Amie Simon described Sidney's survival across the first four films as a progression through grief, distrust and isolation toward a readiness to fight back. Production designer Bob Ziembicki credited Campbell's performance with giving that continuing heroine depth.

Lore and rules

Ghostface is a disguise, not a single killer. Anyone can buy the mask and robe, so each film has a new person or team under it. The killers use a voice changer on the phone, clean the blade between thumb and finger and seem to take hits that should stop them. Stuntman Dane Farwell started the blade-wiping habit on the first film. In the story the costume is a store-bought Father Death set, and Tatum is the first to call the killer Ghostface.

Every film has a character who spells out the rules. Randy starts it in 1996: never have sex, never drink or do drugs, never say I'll be right back. In Scream 2 the body count is bigger and the deaths are gorier. His videotape in Scream 3 says the killer will seem superhuman, anyone can die and the past comes back. Scream 4 says the unexpected is the new cliche and do not mess with the original. Mindy takes over in 2022 with the rules of a requel, and in Scream VI says whatever happened last time, expect the opposite.

The first four films form one story built on Maureen Prescott. Her affair with Hank Loomis drives Billy. Her rape in Hollywood produced Roman, who showed Billy the footage. Her sister Kate is Jill's mother. The new films carry it on through blood lines too. Sam is Billy's secret daughter, Chad and Mindy are Randy's niece and nephew, Vince is Stu's nephew, and the Scream VI killers are Richie's family.

Inside the films there is a movie series called Stab, based on Gale's books about the real killings. Robert Rodriguez is named as the director of the first one, with Tori Spelling as Sidney. Stab 3 was being shot when Roman killed its cast. By Scream 4 there are seven Stab films. Scream (2022) reveals an eighth, a divisive reboot directed by Rian Johnson, which angers Richie and Amber into killing. Scream VI has a shrine full of evidence from every past killing.

The series often points at itself. Scream 2 opens at a Stab screening, Scream 3 is set on a Stab set, Scream 4 opens with a Stab inside a Stab inside a Stab, and the 2022 film is about fans who hate a new sequel. Scream 7 uses deepfakes of dead characters, which let Stu, Nancy, Roman and Dewey appear without coming back to life.

Survivors carry over. Sidney, Gale and Dewey survive the first four films. Dewey dies in 2022. The core four of Sam, Tara, Chad and Mindy survive the 2022 film and Scream VI. Kirby returns from Scream 4 in Scream VI. Scream 7 leaves Sidney, Tatum, Mark, Gale, Mindy and Chad alive. An ending that showed Stu alive was shot and cut.

The MTV series is its own timeline. It never mentions Woodsboro, Sidney or any film character. Seasons one and two follow the legend of Brandon James in Lakewood, with a new mask based on his. The Halloween special left Brandon's return unresolved. Scream: Resurrection is a standalone story in Atlanta built on the local legend of the Hook Man, using the real Ghostface mask.

Games add killers outside both timelines. Dead by Daylight licensed only the mask and made its own killer, Danny Johnson. Mortal Kombat 1's Ghostface is drawn from Billy and Stu, voiced by Roger L. Jackson. Call of Duty and Fortnite use the costume without naming who is inside.

The costume changes a little from film to film. The first film used the thin rubber Fantastic Faces mask. Scream 2 used the Fearsome Faces version, with different eyes and a dented chin. Scream 3 used the plain Ghostface line mask, and Scream 4 a thicker Deluxe Edition mask with a pearl finish. The robe was never sold by Fun World. Each one was sewn by hand for about $700, with reflective threads in the black cloth. The knife is a prop based on the Buck 120 hunting knife.

The MTV killers wore a different costume. The Lakewood Slasher of seasons one and two and the Shallow Grove Slasher of the Halloween special both wore the Brandon James mask. Mike Vaughn played and voiced the masked killer in those seasons. Resurrection brought back the Fun World mask, with Beth and Jamal under it and Roger L. Jackson on the phone.

Timeline

• 1990 to 1991: Loren Gitthens, an artist working for Alterian, Inc., makes a wailing ghost mask. Fun World adapts it into the design that becomes Ghostface.
• 1991 to 1992: Fun World sells the Peanut-Eyed Ghost mask in its Fantastic Faces Halloween line. Brigitte Sleiertin is credited with the design, and vice president Allan Geller approves it.
• 1995: Kevin Williamson writes Scary Movie in about three days, with two five-page sequel outlines. Several studios bid, and Miramax wins.
• 1996: Fun World licensing director R.J. Torbert names the mask GhostFace before the film comes out.
• Spring 1996: Santa Rosa High School refuses permission to film. The shoot moves to the Sonoma Community Center, and the credits later give the school board no thanks.
• April 15, 1996: Filming starts on Scream in Sonoma and Marin counties, California. It wraps June 14, 1996.
• December 17, 1996: Scream: Music from the Dimension Motion Picture comes out on TVT Records.
• December 18, 1996: Scream premieres at the AVCO Theater in Westwood, Los Angeles.
• December 20, 1996: Scream opens wide and makes $6.35 million its first weekend, fourth place.
• 1997: Scream wins Best Movie at the MTV Movie Awards.
• Mid-June 1997: Scream 2 starts nine weeks of shooting. A leaked script exposes the killers, and Williamson rewrites the third act during production.
• July 23, 1997: Scream wins Best Horror Film, Best Actress (Neve Campbell) and Best Writing (Kevin Williamson) at the 23rd Saturn Awards.
• November 18, 1997: The Scream 2 song album comes out on Capitol Records. It is later certified Gold.
• December 10, 1997: Scream 2 premieres at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
• December 12, 1997: Scream 2 opens to $32.9 million, a December opening record. Titanic and Tomorrow Never Dies had moved off the date.
• 1998: Neve Campbell wins Best Female Performance at the MTV Movie Awards for Scream 2.
• January 1998: Mario Padilla, 16, and Samuel Ramirez, 14, kill Padilla's mother, Gina Castillo, in a case the press calls the Scream murder.
• July 14, 1998: Varese Sarabande releases Marco Beltrami's Scream and Scream 2 scores on one album.
• January 17, 1999: Daniel Gill, 14, and Robert Fuller, 15, attack 13-year-old Ashley Murray after watching Scream. They are sentenced to six years.
• July 6, 1999: Scream 3 starts filming around Los Angeles. It wraps September 29, 1999.
• 2000: Boxtree publishes John Brosnan's Scream: The Unofficial Companion to the Scream Trilogy, a paperback guide to the first three films.
• January 2000: Scream 3's ending is reshot a month before release.
• January 25, 2000: Scream 3: The Album comes out on Wind-up Records. It is certified Gold.
• February 3, 2000: Scream 3 premieres at the AMC Avco in Westwood.
• February 4, 2000: Scream 3 opens on a record 3,467 screens and makes $34.7 million, the biggest February opening at the time.
• July 7, 2000: Scary Movie, a parody built mostly on Scream and named after Scream's working title, opens.
• September 26, 2000: The Ultimate Scream Collection DVD box set comes out.
• November 2001: In Belgium, Thierry Jaradin, 24, wearing a Ghostface costume, stabs Alisson Cambier 30 times. He says Scream inspired him.
• March 30, 2005: Disney and the Weinsteins announce they will split when their contracts end.
• September 30, 2005: The Weinsteins leave Miramax and take the Dimension Films label to The Weinstein Company. Dimension films released before October 1, 2005, including Scream 1 to 3, stay with Miramax.
• September 22, 2006: Brian Draper and Torey Adamcik murder Cassie Jo Stoddart in Pocatello, Idaho. The press ties the case to Scream.
• July 2008: The Weinstein Company announces Scream 4.
• March 2010: Wes Craven signs to direct Scream 4.
• May 2010: Producer Cathy Konrad sues The Weinstein Company for $3 million, saying it broke a deal giving her company first rights to produce every Scream film.
• June 28, 2010: Scream 4 starts filming in Michigan. It runs to September 24, 2010. Ehren Kruger does rewrites during the shoot.
• January 2011: Test screenings of Scream 4 lead to reshoots in early February 2011.
• April 2011: Konrad's lawsuit against The Weinstein Company is settled.
• April 11, 2011: Scream 4 premieres at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles.
• April 14, 2011: The documentary Still Screaming: The Ultimate Scary Movie Retrospective premieres at the Laemmle Sunset 5 in Los Angeles.
• April 15, 2011: Scream 4 opens in second place behind Rio.
• August 16, 2011: Universal Studios Hollywood announces Terror Tram: Scream 4 Your Life for Halloween Horror Nights.
• September 23, 2011: Scream 4 Your Life opens on select nights on Universal's Hollywood backlot. It runs through October 31, 2011.
• June 4, 2012: MTV is reported to be developing a Scream TV series.
• April 25, 2013: MTV orders a pilot, with Wes Craven in talks to direct. He passes.
• July 26, 2013: Jay Beattie and Dan Dworkin are hired to write the pilot.
• April 2, 2014: Jill Blotevogel is announced as the show's writer and showrunner.
• August 2014: Jamie Travis is set to direct the TV pilot. MTV orders the series that October.
• August 5, 2014: MTV announces the cast of the Scream series.
• April 12, 2015: The first trailer for the TV series airs during the MTV Movie Awards.
• June 2015: Bob Weinstein says there will be no fifth film and calls the MTV series the right place for the franchise.
• June 4, 2015: MTV reveals the show's new Brandon James mask.
• June 30, 2015: Scream the TV series premieres on MTV to 1.03 million live viewers. Season one ends September 1, 2015.
• August 30, 2015: Wes Craven dies of brain cancer. The season one finale carries a tribute.
• October 1, 2015: Netflix starts carrying the series outside the United States.
• November 9, 2015: Season one showrunners Jill Blotevogel and Jaime Paglia step down over creative differences. Michael Gans and Richard Register take over.
• May 10, 2016: Season one of the TV series comes out on DVD from Anchor Bay. It is the show's only disc release.
• May 13, 2016: Season one of the TV series reaches Netflix in the United States.
• May 30, 2016: Season two premieres on MTV. It ends August 16, 2016.
• May 30, 2016: Scream After Dark, a talk show hosted by Jeffery Self, airs after the season two opener. It runs three episodes.
• September 30, 2016: Season two of the TV series reaches Netflix in the United States.
• October 14, 2016: MTV renews the show for a six-episode third season.
• October 18, 2016: The two-part Halloween special airs. Kieran Wilcox is killed in his cell and a new killer attacks on Shallow Grove Island.
• April 26, 2017: MTV announces season three will be a reboot with a new cast, showrunner Brett Matthews, and Queen Latifah, Shakim Compere and Yaneley Arty as executive producers.
• September 18, 2017: Season three starts filming in Atlanta and the classic Ghostface mask is confirmed for it. Filming wraps November 11, 2017.
• October 10, 2017: Roger L. Jackson is announced as the voice of Ghostface for season three, replacing Mike Vaughn.
• March 19, 2018: The Weinstein Company files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware.
• March 28, 2018: Harvey Weinstein's executive producer credit is removed from the TV series.
• July 16, 2018: Lantern Capital buys The Weinstein Company's assets, including a 277-film library, for $289 million.
• November 2018: Easter Unlimited, the company behind Fun World, sues NBA player Terry Rozier over Scary Terry merchandise that uses the Ghostface mask.
• March 13, 2019: Lantern and Gary Barber launch Spyglass Media Group, which takes over the old Weinstein assets, Scream included.
• June 18, 2019: The Ghost Face chapter comes out for the video game Dead by Daylight.
• June 24, 2019: The TV series' third season is announced as moving from MTV to VH1.
• July 2019: Spyglass settles claims that include $11 million to Viacom over the Scream TV series.
• July 8, 2019: Scream: Resurrection premieres on VH1. All six episodes air by July 10, 2019.
• September 1, 2019: Scream: Resurrection reaches Netflix in the United States. It never reaches Netflix abroad, because Netflix's output deal with The Weinstein Company had ended.
• November 2019: Spyglass announces a new Scream film.
• March 2020: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett of Radio Silence are hired to direct the fifth film.
• June 2020: Paramount comes aboard as distributor of the fifth film.
• July 31, 2020: Courteney Cox confirms on Instagram that she is returning.
• September 2020: The fifth film starts shooting in Wilmington, North Carolina, on September 23. It wraps November 17, 2020.
• November 18, 2020: Kevin Williamson reveals the fifth film will be called Scream, with no number.
• July 15, 2021: Lionsgate buys about 200 former Weinstein films from Spyglass for $191.4 million and takes an 18.9 percent stake. Spyglass keeps Scream.
• September 27, 2021: A federal court in New York rules Terry Rozier's use of the Ghostface mask is fair use.
• October 10, 2021: Fathom Events and Paramount bring Scream back to theaters for two days for its 25th anniversary, with vintage interviews with Craven, Williamson, Campbell and Cox.
• October 12, 2021: The first trailer for the fifth film comes out.
• October 19, 2021: A Ghostface operator bundle, voiced by Roger L. Jackson, comes to Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Warzone.
• January 2022: In Cocoa, Florida, 18-year-old Logan Smith tries to strangle a jogger, a case tied to Scream the same month the fifth film opens. The jogger survives.
• January 7, 2022: Brian Tyler's score for the fifth film and a Varese Sarabande box set of Beltrami's first four scores come out.
• January 14, 2022: Scream (the fifth film) opens to $30 million and ends Spider-Man: No Way Home's run at number one.
• February 3, 2022: Paramount and Spyglass greenlight Scream VI.
• March 29, 2022: Ghostface cosmetics come to Among Us for free, through April 30.
• May 11, 2022: Hayden Panettiere's return as Kirby Reed is announced.
• June 6, 2022: Neve Campbell says she will not return for Scream VI because the offer did not match her value to the franchise.
• June 9, 2022: Scream VI starts filming in Montreal, standing in for New York. It wraps in late August.
• October 9, 2022: Fathom Events screens Scream 2 for its 25th anniversary on October 9 and 10.
• March 6, 2023: Scream VI premieres at AMC Lincoln Square in Manhattan.
• March 10, 2023: Scream VI opens to $44.4 million, a series record at the time.
• April 5, 2023: Scream VI passes $100 million in North America, the first Scream to do it since Scream 2.
• May 7, 2023: Scream VI wins Best Movie and Best Fight at the MTV Movie and TV Awards.
• August 2023: Pre-production on Scream 7 stops during the SAG-AFTRA strike.
• August 2, 2023: Radio Silence leaves Scream 7 because of a scheduling conflict with their film Abigail. Christopher Landon is hired to direct.
• October 3, 2023: Paramount releases Scream: The Original Trilogy on 4K.
• November 21, 2023: Spyglass fires Melissa Barrera over social media posts about the war in Gaza.
• November 22, 2023: Jenna Ortega is reported as not returning for Scream 7.
• December 2023: Christopher Landon leaves Scream 7. He later says the film he signed on to direct no longer existed without Barrera.
• March 12, 2024: Neve Campbell announces her return on Instagram, and Kevin Williamson is named director of Scream 7.
• July 2024: Ghostface is announced for Mortal Kombat 1.
• July 2024: Skydance announces a merger with Paramount's parent company.
• October 2024: Scream 7 is dated for February 27, 2026. Campbell and Williamson announce it in a joint Instagram post.
• October 24, 2024: The Ghost Face Rampage add-on comes out for Hunt: Showdown 1896.
• November 2024: Isabel May is cast as Sidney's daughter Tatum in Scream 7.
• November 19, 2024: Ghostface arrives in Mortal Kombat 1 for Kombat Pack 2 owners, then for everyone on November 26.
• December 2024: Courteney Cox and Mason Gooding are confirmed for Scream 7.
• December 2024: Anna Camp, Mckenna Grace, Celeste O'Connor, Asa Germann and Sam Rechner join Scream 7.
• January 7, 2025: Scream 7 starts filming in Atlanta under the codename Scar Tissue. It wraps March 12, 2025.
• January 16, 2025: Jasmin Savoy Brown and Roger L. Jackson are confirmed for Scream 7.
• January 30, 2025: Matthew Lillard and Scott Foley are cast in Scream 7.
• March 4, 2025: David Arquette is confirmed for Scream 7.
• August 2025: Skydance completes its merger with Paramount. Scream 7 becomes the first film Paramount releases under its new film heads, co-chairs Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein.
• August 19, 2025: Plume publishes Ashley Cullins's Your Favorite Scary Movie: How the Scream Films Rewrote the Rules of Horror, built on more than eighty interviews. It becomes a New York Times bestseller. Roger L. Jackson reads the audiobook.
• October 10, 2025: Ghostface comes to Fortnite as a skin during Fortnitemares.
• October 30, 2025: The first Scream 7 trailer comes out.
• February 6, 2026: Paramount and Spyglass sue the effects studio Alterian in California federal court over the Ghostface mask. Alterian files its own suit against them and Fun World.
• February 19, 2026: Scream 7 starts opening in international markets.
• February 19, 2026: Ice Nine Kills releases Twisting the Knife, featuring Mckenna Grace, from Scream 7, with a music video the same day. It draws almost 10 million streams in its first week.
• February 25, 2026: Scream 7 premieres on the Paramount lot in Los Angeles. Pro-Palestinian protesters gather outside.
• February 27, 2026: Scream 7 opens in the United States, the first Scream in IMAX. Thursday previews bring in $7.8 million and the weekend $63.6 million, both series records.
• March 2026: Kevin Williamson says he will not direct the next film.
• March 2026: Scream 7 drops 74 percent in its second weekend to $17.3 million.
• March 31, 2026: Spyglass and Paramount announce Scream 8, with Lilla and Nora Zuckerman writing, after Scream 7 passes $200 million worldwide.
• March 31, 2026: Scream 7 comes out on digital with more than 40 minutes of extras, including Scar Tissue: The Making of Scream 7.
• May 2026: Paramount, Spyglass and Alterian tell a federal judge in Los Angeles they have settled, and the mask suits are dropped. No terms are made public.
• May 22, 2026: Lakeshore Records releases Marco Beltrami's Scream 7 score.
• May 28, 2026: Scream 7 starts streaming on Paramount+.
• June 5, 2026: Paramount's Scary Movie revival opens, again parodying Scream, with Dave Sheridan back as the Ghostface spoof.
• June 16, 2026: Scream 7 comes out on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD, with a limited SteelBook.
• August 7, 2026: Midsummer Scream and Paramount Scares open a three-day Scream 30th anniversary celebration at the Long Beach Convention Center. Guests include Lillard, Ulrich, Arquette, Kennedy, Joseph Whipp, stunt performer Lee Waddell, Roger L. Jackson and Marco Beltrami. Paramount builds a copy of Bradley Video from the first film.
• August 8, 2026: Matthew Lillard hosts the Scream 30th Anniversary Panel. At the reunion, Paramount Scares announces Scream will return to select theaters on October 30, 2026.
• August 9, 2026: The Sound of Scream panel brings together Beltrami, Jackson, Marianne Maddalena, music supervisor Ed Gerrard and Ice Nine Kills singer Spencer Charnas.
• August 16, 2026: Hayden Panettiere, Kirby Reed in Scream 4 and Scream VI, dies at 36 in Greenville, South Carolina. She was found unresponsive and in cardiac arrest. The cause of death is still under investigation.
• August 28, 2026: Varese Sarabande and Craft Recordings reissue Beltrami's 14-track Scream score on vinyl for the 30th anniversary, with store-exclusive colors. An Extended Cut CD holds all 40 cues.
• Fall 2026: Marianne Maddalena told Variety filming on Scream 8 could start this fall. No start date has been confirmed.
• September 14, 2026: At the Toronto International Film Festival, Courteney Cox tells Deadline she thinks she should direct a Scream film.
• October 30, 2026: Scream is set to return to select theaters for its 30th anniversary.
• December 20, 2026: Scream turns 30.

The killers

Characters

Places

Box office

The seven films come to $643.7 million in the United States and Canada, per The Numbers ($643,697,447). The Numbers' worldwide figures add up to $1,124,412,213, not adjusted for inflation. Wikipedia describes the total as over $1.1 billion. The Numbers puts the seven budgets at $221 million combined. Opening weekends per The Numbers: Scream $6,354,586, Scream 2 $32,926,342, Scream 3 $34,713,342, Scream 4 $18,692,090, Scream (2022) $30,018,805, Scream VI $44,447,270 and Scream 7 $63,615,172, the series record. Scream 7 is the top grosser worldwide and in North America. Scream 4 is the lowest. Scream VI held the domestic record from 2023 until Scream 7 passed it.

Rights and business

Miramax bought Williamson's script in 1995 after a bidding war, paying between $400,000 and $500,000. The first three films came out through Dimension Films, Miramax's genre label, while Miramax was owned by Disney. Scream was Miramax's second film to pass $100 million in North America, after Pulp Fiction.

Disney and the Weinsteins announced on March 30, 2005, that they would part, and the brothers left on September 30, 2005. They took the Dimension name to The Weinstein Company, which made Scream 4 and the TV series. Dimension films released before October 1, 2005, stayed with Miramax, so the first three films sit in the Miramax library. Paramount distributes that library and put out Scream: The Original Trilogy on 4K on October 3, 2023. Scream 4 was a Weinstein Company film, and Lionsgate released it on 4K in 2026.

In May 2010 producer Cathy Konrad sued The Weinstein Company for $3 million. She said her company had first rights to produce every Scream film and that she was pushed out for a cheaper producer, Iya Labunka, Craven's wife. The case settled in April 2011.

MTV made the TV series with Dimension Television. The network could not use the Fun World Ghostface mask for the first two seasons and built the Brandon James mask instead, which Fun World made as a licensed shop mask. Netflix carried the show outside the United States from October 1, 2015, under an output deal with The Weinstein Company. When that deal ended, the third season did not reach Netflix outside the U.S. Harvey Weinstein's credit was pulled on March 28, 2018, and the season moved to VH1, where it aired in July 2019.

The Weinstein Company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware on March 19, 2018, after the abuse allegations against Harvey Weinstein. Lantern Capital Partners bought its assets, including a 277-film library, for $289 million on July 16, 2018. On March 13, 2019, Lantern and former MGM chief Gary Barber relaunched Spyglass Media Group with all of those assets, with Eagle Pictures and Cineworld as investors. In July 2019 Spyglass settled claims that included $11 million to Viacom over the Scream series.

Spyglass announced a new Scream film in November 2019 and brought in Paramount as distributor in June 2020. On July 15, 2021, Lionsgate bought about 200 former Weinstein films from Spyglass for $191.4 million and took an 18.9 percent stake, but Spyglass kept Scream for itself. Wikipedia lists Spyglass's owners as Lantern Entertainment at 66.1 percent, Lionsgate at 18.9 percent, and Warner Bros., Cineworld and Eagle Pictures at 5 percent each. The new films are made with Project X Entertainment.

The mask belongs to Fun World, which licenses it to the films. In November 2018 Easter Unlimited, Fun World's parent, sued NBA player Terry Rozier over Scary Terry clothing showing him in the mask. On September 27, 2021, a federal court in the Eastern District of New York ruled for Rozier, calling the use a fair use parody.

In February 2026, shortly before Scream 7 opened, Paramount and Spyglass sued the effects studio Alterian in California federal court. The studios said Alterian tried to strong-arm them into paying millions to avoid a copyright suit, and that they properly license the mask from Fun World. Alterian, founded by Tony Gardner, filed its own suit against the studios and Fun World, saying it created the design in 1991. The parties told a federal judge in Los Angeles in May 2026 that they had settled, and the suits were dropped. No terms were made public.

Pay and politics shaped the recent films. Neve Campbell turned down Scream VI in June 2022, saying the offer did not match what she had brought to the franchise. For Scream 7 she was reported to be paid $7 million and Courteney Cox $2 million. Spyglass fired Melissa Barrera on November 21, 2023, over posts about Gaza that it called antisemitic, which she denied. Jenna Ortega left the next day. The official reason at the time was her schedule on Wednesday, but in April 2025 she said the film no longer felt right without Barrera and the directors. Some fans called for a boycott, and protesters turned out at the premiere.

Scream 7's success led straight to Scream 8. Spyglass and Paramount announced it on March 31, 2026, with the Zuckerman sisters writing. The same day, Scream 7 came out on digital. It reached Paramount+ on May 28 and disc on June 16, 2026.

Scream 7 cost $45 million, the most in the series, split evenly between Spyglass and Paramount. It was made while Paramount was changing hands. Skydance announced its merger with Paramount's parent company in July 2024 and closed it in August 2025, and Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein took over the film studio. Scream 7 was the first film released under them.

Paramount now runs the anniversary side of the franchise too. Paramount and Fathom Events put Scream back in theaters for its 25th anniversary in October 2021 and did the same for Scream 2 in October 2022. For the 30th, Paramount's horror label Paramount Scares had its biggest presence yet at Midsummer Scream in August 2026 and set a theatrical re-release for October 30, 2026.

Critics liked the first two films. Scream holds 78 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and 66 on Metacritic, and Scream 2 holds 83 percent and 62. Gene Siskel and Janet Maslin both liked Scream 2. Scream 3 dropped to 45 percent and Scream 4 to 61 percent. The 2022 film scored 76 percent and Scream VI 77 percent. Scream 7 fell to 30 percent and 35 on Metacritic, the worst in the series, and tied Scream 4 for the lowest CinemaScore at B minus.

The TV series got mixed reviews. The pilot drew 1.03 million viewers, the best of the run, and ratings dropped each season. The season three finale drew 0.33 million.

Scream is widely credited with reviving the slasher film in the late 1990s and making self-aware horror popular. It was the highest-grossing slasher film until Halloween (2018). Scream 2 was big enough that Titanic and Tomorrow Never Dies moved off its opening date.

The Ghostface costume became the best-selling and most-worn Halloween costume in the United States. Fun World turned it into its own mask line after Scream 2, with glow-in-the-dark versions and a 25th anniversary edition. McFarlane Toys made a Movie Maniacs figure around 1999, and NECA made figures for Scream 4.

Later films have been reread over time. After the Weinstein revelations in 2017, writers pointed to Scream 3's plot about a producer who abused young actresses, with Harvey Weinstein's name in the credits. Scream 4 has been reappraised for seeing early how social media and the hunger for online fame would affect teenagers.

The series has been tied to real crimes. The 1998 killing of Gina Castillo, the 1999 attack on Ashley Murray, the 2001 murder of Alisson Cambier in Belgium and the 2006 murder of Cassie Jo Stoddart in Idaho were all linked to the films by the killers themselves or by the press. In the Castillo trial, Judge John Cheroske barred evidence about Scream and would not let the case be called the Scream murder.

Box office tells a comeback story. Scream 4 was a disappointment in 2011, and the franchise moved to TV. The 2022 film proved the legacy formula worked, Scream VI grew the audience, and Scream 7 set records despite poor reviews and a boycott.

Dewey's death in 2022 split fans.

Ghostface has spread well beyond the films into video games. Dead by Daylight added the killer in 2019, Call of Duty in 2021, Among Us in 2022, Mortal Kombat 1 and Hunt: Showdown 1896 in 2024, and Fortnite in 2025. Roger L. Jackson voices him in Call of Duty and Mortal Kombat 1.

Books have followed the films. John Brosnan's unofficial companion to the trilogy came out from Boxtree in 2000. Padraic Maroney's It All Began With A Scream covered the first four films in 2021. Ashley Cullins's Your Favorite Scary Movie came out from Plume on August 19, 2025. It draws on more than eighty interviews and became a New York Times bestseller.

Ghostface has become a theme park regular. He turned up in a haunted house at Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando in 1998, and he was the main icon of Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood in 2011 with the Scream 4 Your Life tram. For the 30th anniversary in 2026, fans lined up at a copy of Bradley Video in Long Beach, and Fangoria printed a Ghostface cover edition just for the convention.

Scream 7 is a case of fans and critics splitting. Rotten Tomatoes' consensus called it a disappointing creative regression. PostTrak found 61 percent of viewers would definitely recommend it. It still made more money than any Scream before it.

Awards

• Scream: Saturn Award for Best Horror Film, 23rd Saturn Awards, July 23, 1997 (won)
• Scream: Saturn Award for Best Actress, Neve Campbell, 1997 (won)
• Scream: Saturn Award for Best Writing, Kevin Williamson, 1997 (won)
• Scream: MTV Movie Award for Best Movie, 1997 (won)
• Scream 2: MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance, Neve Campbell, 1998 (won)
• Scream 2: Golden Raspberry nomination for Worst New Star, Tori Spelling, shared with The House of Yes
• Scream (2022): MTV Movie and TV Award for Most Frightened Performance, Jenna Ortega, 2022 (won)
• Scream VI: MTV Movie and TV Awards for Best Movie and Best Fight (Courteney Cox vs. Ghostface), May 7, 2023 (won)
• Scream VI: People's Choice Award for The Drama Movie Star of the Year, Jenna Ortega, February 18, 2024 (won)
• Scream VI: Saturn Award nomination for Best Horror Film
• Scream 2 soundtrack: certified Gold by the RIAA, 1998
• Scream 3: The Album: certified Gold by the RIAA, 2000

Parodies and references

• Scary Movie (July 7, 2000) is built mostly on Scream and borrows Scream's working title. Its Ghostface killer, Doofy Gilmore, is played by Dave Sheridan.
• Scary Movie (June 5, 2026), the Wayans brothers' revival for Paramount, again takes on Scream, with Dave Sheridan back as Doofy.
• Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th (2000) parodies Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, and shows a melting Jason mask turning into Ghostface.
• Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) has an orangutan in the Ghostface role.
• Celebrity Deathmatch, The Unknown Murderer (1999)
• Beverly Hills, 90210 and Cousin Skeeter (2000)
• Dawson's Creek, with a Ghostface item in the main character's bedroom
• The Sopranos, Fortunate Son (2001), where Christopher Moltisanti wears the mask for a robbery
• Boomtown, All Hallow's Eve (2002)
• FLCL, Marquis de Cabras (2003)
• Tripping the Rift, The Devil and a Guy Named Webster (2004)
• All Grown Up!, Interview with a Campfire (2004)
• The Simpsons
• Robot Chicken
• A 2004 Trivial Pursuit 90s edition ad featured Ghostface with Dennis Rodman and Rose from Titanic.
• Ice Nine Kills' Twisting the Knife (February 19, 2026), featuring Scream 7's Mckenna Grace, has Roger L. Jackson as Ghostface and David Arquette in the video.
• NBA player Terry Rozier's Scary Terry clothing showed him in the Ghostface mask, which led to a court ruling in his favor in 2021.
• Scream XXX is an adult parody.
• Inside the films, Stab 8 is directed by Rian Johnson and fans hate it, a joke about the reaction to Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
• In Scream (1996) Sidney jokes that Tori Spelling would play her in a movie. Spelling plays her in Stab in Scream 2.
• Scream (1996) has a Linda Blair cameo as a reporter, and Wes Craven cameos as a janitor named Fred dressed like Freddy Krueger.
• Most TV season two episode titles are horror films: I Know What You Did Last Summer, Psycho, Vacancy, Happy Birthday to Me, Dawn of the Dead, Jeepers Creepers, Let the Right One In, Village of the Damned, The Orphanage, The Vanishing, Heavenly Creatures and When a Stranger Calls.
• Dead by Daylight, Ghost Face chapter (June 18, 2019)
• Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Warzone, Scream Ghostface operator bundle (October 19 to November 18, 2021)
• Among Us, free Ghostface cosmetics (March 29 to April 30, 2022)
• Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns, playable Ghostface (November 19, 2024 early access; November 26, 2024 for all)
• Hunt: Showdown 1896, Ghost Face Rampage add-on (October 24, 2024)
• Fortnite, Ghostface outfit (item shop October 10, 2025)
• Scre4m (2011), a promotional mobile game for Scream 4
• Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood 2011 made Ghostface its icon, with the Terror Tram: Scream 4 Your Life.
• Fangoria printed a Midsummer Scream edition with a Ghostface cover for the 2026 reunion.
• The 30th anniversary vinyl of Beltrami's score came in store colors named after lines and moments from the film: Knife's Edge, Surprise Sidney, Don't Hang Up, I'll Be Right Back, Final Girl, Wrong Answer and Final Phone Call.

Fandom

Fans have been making their own Scream movies for years. StabMovies.com, created by Joshua Patrick Dudley, has been making Stab fan films since 2010, starting with Stab 4: Fresh Blood (2010) and Stab 5 (2011). The site says its films have over 25 million YouTube views, and in September 2026 it is filming Stab 5: Clock of Doom through early October for a free 2027 release. The site states clearly that it is not endorsed by or tied to the rights holders.

Brandon Tobatto's Ghostface (2018) is one of the best reviewed YouTube fan films. It went up August 31, 2018, and stars Shanna Ammons, William Butler and Stephen Hughey. Six years after the last Stab massacre, a new killer hunts the three remaining survivors of 1996. Horror Society's reviewer said it beat most short Scream fan films online.

Fans also make comics and books. Futekigo Studios sells Ghostface Issue #1: Deja Vu, a fan sequel set fourteen years after Billy and Stu. R.J. Torbert, the Fun World man who named the mask, wrote two crime novels with Ghost Face in them.

GhostFace.co.uk has run since 2006. Scream-Thrillogy.com documents the screen-used masks.

The Macher house in Tomales has turned into a pilgrimage site. Fans booked the 2021 Airbnb stays, took the tours and paid for the last overnight event in October 2025. The Sonoma Community Center, which played Woodsboro High, hosts screenings.

Scream fandom is also political at times. After Spyglass fired Melissa Barrera in November 2023, some fans called for a boycott of Scream 7, and protesters stood outside the February 2026 premiere. The film still set franchise records.

Ghostface is the most worn and most sold Halloween costume in the United States, so every October the fandom spills into the streets. In 2026 fans packed Midsummer Scream in Long Beach, where Roger L. Jackson recorded personal voicemail greetings and Paramount rebuilt Bradley Video.

Books

Comics

Documentaries and retrospectives

Music

Merchandise lines

Home media collections

News in 2026

• January 8, 2026: Anthem Publishing releases the unofficial Scream Magazine Fan Book: 30 Years of Ghostface.
• Early February 2026: Paramount and Spyglass sue Alterian over the mask design, and Alterian files its own suit.
• February 2026: Matthew Lillard's Ghost Face Vodka launches with a box set that sells out fast, with over 45,000 people on the waitlist. Lillard plans Total Wine stores in four states for 2026.
• February 19, 2026: Ice Nine Kills releases Twisting the Knife with Mckenna Grace. It pulls almost 10 million streams in a week. Scream 7 starts opening overseas the same day.
• February 25, 2026: Scream 7 premieres on the Paramount lot with protesters outside.
• February 27, 2026: Scream 7 opens in the US, the first Scream in IMAX, with a franchise record $7.8 million in Thursday previews and a $63.6 million weekend. Around the release, Marianne Maddalena tells Variety Scream 8 could film in fall 2026.
• March 2026: Scream 7 falls 74 percent to $17.3 million in its second weekend. Kevin Williamson says he will not direct the next film.
• March 31, 2026: Spyglass and Paramount announce Scream 8 with Lilla and Nora Zuckerman writing. Scream 7 comes out on digital. Lionsgate details its Scream 4 4K release.
• May 3, 2026: Scream Horror Magazine reports, from an unnamed source, that Scream 8 is aiming to shoot in October 2026 without a finished script. Nothing official confirms it.
• May 2026: Paramount, Spyglass and Alterian tell a federal judge the mask lawsuits are settled.
• June 5, 2026: Paramount's Scary Movie revival opens with Dave Sheridan back as Doofy. It grosses $231.9 million worldwide.
• June 9, 2026: Lionsgate releases Scream 4 on 4K Ultra HD with a Limited SteelBook.
• June 16, 2026: Scream 7 comes out on 4K, Blu-ray, DVD and SteelBook.
• July 9, 2026: Varèse Sarabande and Craft Recordings announce the 30th anniversary reissue of Beltrami's Scream score.
• August 5, 2026: Spirit Halloween's 2026 Ghost Face animatronic goes on sale at $279.99, voiced with Roger L. Jackson lines from the 2022 film.
• August 7 to 9, 2026: Midsummer Scream in Long Beach holds the Scream 30th Anniversary Celebration with Lillard, Ulrich, Arquette, Kennedy and Jackson. Paramount announces the film returns to theaters October 30.
• August 12, 2026: David Arquette's Behind The Scream tour of 14 cities is announced for October.
• August 16, 2026: Hayden Panettiere, Kirby Reed in Scream 4 and Scream VI, dies at 36. Emma Roberts posts a tribute.
• August 23, 2026: Last day to watch Scream, Scream 2 and Scream 3 on Netflix in the US.
• August 28, 2026: The Scream 30th anniversary score reissue comes out on eight vinyl colors and an Extended Cut CD with 40 cues.
• September 1, 2026: Ghost Face Vodka adds a Blood Orange flavor and starts a nationwide Total Wine rollout, with a collectible box set presale on September 29.
• September 14 to 16, 2026: Matthew Lillard does Scream Q&A screenings in Dallas, Houston and Austin and Total Wine signings in Texas.
• September 2026: Scream 8 still has no director, cast or release date. Scream 7 stands at about $214 million worldwide, the franchise high.
• October 8 to 31, 2026: Behind The Scream with David Arquette tours 14 US theaters.
• October 30, 2026: Scream (1996) returns to select theaters for its 30th anniversary.
• December 20, 2026: The 30th anniversary of Scream's release.

Trivia

• Loren Gitthens of Alterian designed a wailing ghost called the Wailer in 1990. Tony Gardner's Alterian sold ghost faces in Ghost Maker kits at the March 1991 Chicago Halloween trade show. Fun World designer Brigitte Sleiertin-Liden then drew sketches that became item 9206 in 1992, a glow in the dark ghost mask with a shroud in four styles. Fun World's website credits Alan Geller as the creator, and who designed it first is still disputed.
• Wikipedia says Fun World first called it The Peanut-Eyed Ghost in the Fantastic Faces line.
• Producer Marianne Maddalena found the mask while scouting locations.
• R.J. Torbert, who joined Fun World in 1996, named it Ghost Face because it looked like a ghost in pain.
• Each hand-made robe cost about $700 and used heavy black fabric with reflective thread, per Wikipedia.
• The knife is a custom prop based on the Buck 120 hunting knife.
• Stunt performer Dane Farwell started the habit of cleaning the knife between thumb and finger.
• Roger L. Jackson has voiced Ghostface since 1996. He also voices Mojo Jojo on The Powerpuff Girls.
• The TV series killer in seasons one and two was voiced by Mike Vaughn. Jackson only came to the show in season three when MTV got the real mask.
• Scream VI's door knock sound effect was taken from Ti West's Pearl, per the commentary.
• Scream 2's soundtrack went Gold and so did Scream 3's. The first film's album never made the Billboard 200.
• Scream 4 was left out of Paramount's Original Trilogy 4K set because it was a Weinstein Company film, and its 4K came from Lionsgate instead in 2026.
• Goodreads dates R.J. Torbert's The Face of Fear to 2012, while fan wikis give its official release as May 7, 2013.
• The Scre4m mobile game launched April 15, 2011 on iOS per TweakTown, while the Scream Wiki gives June 6, 2011 for iOS and Android.
• Among Us Ghostface cosmetics were announced in January 2022 and were in the game from March 29 to April 30, 2022.
• Wikipedia dates Ghostface in Mortal Kombat 1 to July 2024, which is when he was announced. He was playable November 19, 2024.
• Dead by Daylight's Ghost Face is an original killer, Danny Johnson, who uses the Fun World mask, not a character from the films.
• Hunt: Showdown 1896 was Crytek's first horror crossover, and it redesigned the mask as a carved wooden face for the 1890s.
• Universal's 2011 tram is called Terror Tram: Scream 4 Your Life in Universal's own press release and Terror Tram: SCRE4M For Your Life on Wikipedia.
• The 2011 Terror Tram put guests on a fake Stab production, over a decade before the 2022 film made Stab 8 part of the story.
• Scream 2 was big enough in 1997 that Titanic and Tomorrow Never Dies moved off its December 12 release date.
• Scream 3 opened on 3,467 screens on February 4, 2000, then the widest opening ever in the US and Canada.
• Scream 2's script leaked online before release, revealing the killers, so the production printed scripts on special paper that could not be photocopied.
• The 2022 film's red carpet premiere, set for January 11, 2022, was canceled because of the Omicron surge.
• Scream VI's fake Met Gala Ghostface appearance with Jenna Ortega drew 12.5 million views in 24 hours.
• Scream 7 made about $214 million worldwide on a $45 million budget per Wikipedia. The Numbers lists $213.8 million.
• Spirit Halloween's 2026 animatronic uses four Roger L. Jackson lines from the 2022 film.
• Paramount's 2023 Ghostface stunt stood on Sonoma Plaza, in the town where the first film's Woodsboro High was shot.
• Ghost Face Vodka comes from Matthew Lillard's Macabre Spirits, which has also made whiskey with Ice Nine Kills and Mike Flanagan.
• The Scream TV series only ever got one DVD, season one, and no Blu-ray of any season.
• Kevin Williamson said talk about what Scream 8 could be started on the Scream 7 set at 3 in the morning, and Neve Campbell was part of those talks.

Online

• StabMovies.com: independent Stab fan film site created by Joshua Patrick Dudley, making films since 2010, with over 25 million YouTube views, a replica art store and a Ghost Face mask archive.
• GhostFace.co.uk: long running UK fan site run by Tim Wagstaff, started as a forum in 2006. It is not part of Fun World but uses the GhostFace name and logo with R.J. Torbert's permission.
• Scream-Thrillogy.com: fan blog known for deep research on the screen-used masks of the first film.
• Scream Wiki on Fandom: fan encyclopedia of the films, TV series, games and in-universe books like Gale Weathers' The Woodsboro Murders.
• Scream VI Ghostface calls: in 2023 Paramount let fans sign up for a recorded call from Ghostface, and about 2 million people had custom chats with him.
• Scream VI social campaign: over 100 million organic views, with a fake Met Gala appearance that became Paramount's most liked organic TikTok post.
• Scream: If I Die: web series for TV season two in which Lakewood survivors record final messages.
• Scream After Dark: MTV aftershow for the series hosted by Jeffery Self.
• Hide & Scream: Scream 7 browser game where you hide from Ghostface for 60 seconds.
• Ghost Face Vodka: ghostfacevodka.com and findfamiliarspirits.com.

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• Ghost Face 30th Anniversary Mask, Fun World
• New 2026, Fun World
• Loren's Ghost: The Haunted History Of The SCREAM Mask, Fangoria
• Complete Guide to the Masks Used in Scream (1996), Scream-Thrillogy
• Ghostface returns in No Mercy, Scream-Thrillogy
• R.J. Torbert author page, Goodreads
• The Face of Fear, Amazon listing
• Cool Stuff: NECA's Scream Ghostface Ultimate Figure, SlashFilm
• NECA Unveils The New SCREAM 4 GHOSTFACE Figure, GeekTyrant
• NECA Scream 4 Ghostface Action Figure, Mr. Frights's Scary Stuff
• One:12 Collective Ghost Face, One12Collective.com
• Movie Maniacs Series 2: Scream Ghostface, Amazon listing
• Scream Ghost Face Black Light Funko Pop! 1607, Entertainment Earth
• Spirit Halloween's Ghost Face Lineup Runs $7.99 to $279.99, Haunted Attraction Network
• Spirit Halloween Unleashes Their Killer New Ghostface Collection, Collider
• Scream 7: Every Popcorn Bucket & Ghostface Merch Item Revealed, The Direct
• Ghostface Returns: Every New Scream 7 Popcorn Bucket Revealed, Fantasy Land News
• Cinemark Reveals Scream 7 Ghostface Popcorn Bucket, Dread Central
• New Terror Tram: Scream 4 Your Life at Universal Studios Hollywood, PR Newswire
• Scream (Franchise), Halloween Horror Nights Wiki
• Halloween Horror Nights 2026 Hollywood lineup, Discover Universal
• Scream: The Original Trilogy 4K Blu-ray, Blu-ray.com
• Scream Trilogy Gets Killer 4K Bundle, Collider
• The Ultimate Scream Collection DVD, eBay catalog
• Scream 6-Movie Collection, Walmart
• Lito Velasco on Scream: The Inside Story, Static Mass Emporium
• Still Screaming: The Ultimate Scary Movie Retrospective, Letterboxd
• Scream: A Screenplay, Internet Archive
• Scream: A Screenplay, Goodreads
• Scream (Devil's Advocates) by Steven West, Goodreads
• Wes Craven: The Art of Horror, McFarland
• Screams & Nightmares: The Films of Wes Craven review, Horror DNA
• Wes Craven: The Man and his Nightmares, Goodreads
• Wes Craven: The Man and his Nightmares, Turner Publishing
• Scream Magazine Fan Book: 30 Years of Ghostface, Amazon listing
• Scream 30 Years of Ghostface Magazine, Unique Magazines
• Ghostface Issue #1, Deja Vu, Futekigo Studios
• TWC Games Launches Scre4m Game, TweakTown
• Scream 4 (mobile game), Scream Wiki
• Scream Video Games and What They Mean For Scream 5, Screen Rant
• Introducing Ghost Face Rampage, Hunt: Showdown 1896, Crytek press
• Scream villain Ghostface is coming to Among Us, NME
• How to get the Warzone Scream skin, GamesRadar+
• Scream 7 Web Game Puts You in a Deadly Game of Hide and Seek with Ghostface, Bloody Disgusting
• Scream VI, The Shorty Awards
• Scream VI Marketing Takes Over New York City, Collider
• Ghostface Call Me website and merch, Screen Rant
• Scream VI Fans Can Get a Terrifying Phone Call From Ghostface, ComicBook.com
• Don't expect viral marketing for Scream VII to be like Scream VI, Popverse
• You Can Have a SCREAM Celebration in Stu Macher's House, Nerdist
• One Scream 7 Scene Is Based On A Special Real-Life Event, SlashFilm
• Inside the iconic Scream mansion as fans flock to visit, SWNS
• Sonoma Community Center opens doors of Scream House to fans for one last scare, Sonoma Index-Tribune
• Overnight Stay at the Scream House, Sonoma County Tourism
• Tour the Macher House, Eventbrite
• You Can Have a SCREAM Celebration in Stu Macher's House, Yahoo Entertainment
• StabMovies.com home page
• StabMovies.com, Stab 4: Fresh Blood (2010)
• Stab 5 (2011), IMDb
• Stab 6: Ghostface Returns, StabMovies.com Wiki
• Review: Brandon Tobatto's Ghostface (A Scream Fan Film), Horror Society
• Ghostface (Short 2018), IMDb
• A Ghostface Origin Story, Scream Fan Film, YouTube
• The Woodsboro Podcast: 25 Years of Scream, Apple Podcasts
• Scream Talk, Apple Podcasts
• Scream Freaks Podcast, iHeart
• 435: Scream 7 (2026), Hack or Slash, Spotify
• Scream 8 Allegedly Eyeing Fall 2026 Shoot, Scream Horror Magazine
• Hayden Panettiere dies at 36, ABC7 New York
• Hayden Panettiere tributes, Deadline
• Courteney Cox wants to direct Scream 8, ComingSoon
• Courteney Cox is ready to direct a Scream movie, Deadline
• Scream 7 cast and creatives on possible eighth movie, Variety
• Scream 8 sets Zuckerman sisters to write, Empire
• Scream 7 garners working title Scar Tissue, Scream Horror Magazine
• Scream 7 taps SCAD campus for filming, CBS Atlanta
• The Ghostface Files: The True Origin of the Scream Mask, Scream-Thrillogy
• In Weinstein Co. bankruptcy, Viacom and Spyglass reach $11M Scream settlement, Deadline
• Lantern Entertainment closes $289 million acquisition of The Weinstein Co.'s assets, Deadline
• Scream: Resurrection killer revealed, TVLine
• Scream: Resurrection's bloody ending, explained, CBR
• Scream celebrates 30 years at Midsummer Scream, Love Horror
• Marco Beltrami's Scream score 30th anniversary reissue, Icon Vs. Icon
• Introducing Ghost Face Rampage, Crytek
• Announcing: Among Us x SCREAM Cosmetics, Innersloth
• Announcing: Ghostface Returns, Innersloth
• All Fortnitemares collab skins and release dates (2025), Game Rant
• Scre4m, The Lost Media Wiki
• Scream: The Game, BoardGameGeek
• Ghost Face Vodka Blood Orange hits Total Wine, Haunted Attraction Network
• Your Favorite Scary Movie, NetGalley
• It All Began With A Scream by Padraic Maroney, Goodreads
• Scream: The Unofficial Companion to the Scream Trilogy, AbeBooks
• Scream (Devil's Advocates), Liverpool University Press
• No Mercy: A Powers and Johnson Novel, Goodreads
• Scary Movie (2026), The Numbers
• Scream 4 debuts on 4K Ultra HD June 9 from Lionsgate, Screen-Connections
• David Arquette going on Behind the Scream screening tour, Consequence
• Scream with David Arquette Q&As touring this October, UPI
• Netflix removing Scream trilogy August 2026, Collider
• Ghostface sightings are Scream 6 stunt, people call police, Variety
• Scream publicity stunt floods Bay Area dispatch with 911 calls, SFGate
• Scream VI: Ghostface Haunts the Met Gala, The Shorty Awards
• Halloween Horror Nights VIII: Primal Scream, Halloween Horror Nights Wiki
• GhostFace.co.uk
• Stab 4: Fresh Blood (2010), IMDb