Scream 7

Scott and his girlfriend Madison are Stab fans who have heard the rumor that Stu Macher lived through the night a television was dropped on his head. They visit Stu's old house in Woodsboro, which is now an Airbnb filled with Stab memorabilia. A caller asks if they like scary movies. Then the real Ghost Face shows up. Scott and Madison are both killed, and the house is set on fire.

In Pine Grove, Indiana, Sidney has built a quiet life as Sidney Evans. She runs a coffeehouse, is married to police chief Mark Evans, and is raising three daughters. The oldest, Tatum, is a teenager named after the best friend Sidney lost in Woodsboro. Their next-door neighbor is Jessica Bowden, whose son Lucas runs with Tatum's friends.

Sidney gets a call from Ghost Face, who asks to switch to video. The face on the screen is an older, scarred Stu Macher, and he says he is coming for Tatum, who is at a school theater rehearsal. Sidney gets there with the police, but the killer has already murdered two of Tatum's friends, Hannah and Aaron, and gets away.

That night Ghost Face comes out of the Evans attic, knocks Mark out, and chases Sidney and Tatum into a safe room. They slip out another exit while the killer stabs through the wall. Out on the road, Gale Weathers, Mindy and Chad Meeks-Martin run him down with their van. Under the mask is Karl Gibbs, a killer who escaped from a nearby mental institution and bought coffee from Sidney earlier that day.

Sidney visits the institution and meets supervisor Marco Davis. He tells her a recently released John Doe patient, who had no memory of his life before Woodsboro, lived in the room next to Karl. The man was Stu Macher. Sidney agrees to a live television interview with Gale to draw Stu out. While it airs, Tatum is at a tavern with her boyfriend Ben, Chloe, Lucas, and the Meeks-Martin twins. At home, Ghost Face ambushes Mark and stabs him over and over.

After the broadcast, Stu calls Sidney and says he is outside the tavern. Tatum finds a laptop in Ben's car running a test that puts Ben's face into Stu's. She knocks him out and runs. Ghost Face wounds Mindy and Chad and kills Chloe and Lucas. Ben catches up with Tatum in the street and is killed. Tatum reaches her mother's coffeehouse, finds the gun Sidney told her about, and shoots at Ghost Face through a wall. Then she sees a second Ghost Face standing at the front door.

Stu calls again to tell Sidney that Tatum is being held at home. On the television, Stu's face shifts into Nancy Loomis, Roman Bridger and Dewey Riley while he explains he is going back to how the Woodsboro killings started: someone forced to watch a person they love held captive at home. Sidney finds Tatum tied to a chair with a knife at her throat. That Ghost Face is Marco, who used his old information technology job to build the fake Stu. He drags in the wounded Mark.

The second killer takes off her mask. It is Jessica Bowden. She read Sidney's book and decided Sidney came out on top by killing the people who hurt her. So Jessica killed her abusive husband, and later her own son Lucas, who she thought was just like his father. She was let down when Sidney dropped out of sight during the New York killings. After finding out where Sidney lived, she spent time at the institution, where she met Marco. Her plan was to turn Tatum into a new Sidney by putting her through the same trauma.

Mark cuts Tatum free, and Tatum goes after Jessica while Sidney shoots Marco dead. Jessica runs, and Sidney chases her down and fights her until Tatum shoots Jessica. When Jessica gets back up, mother and daughter both fire into her head until she stops moving. Afterward Mark is taken to the hospital, Sidney thanks Gale for having her back and tells Tatum about her namesake, and with Gale's blessing Mindy goes on the air with a report on the night.

Story notes

• The rules do not save you twice. What worked in Woodsboro is known to whoever comes next; the survivors are the ones being studied.
• Family is the motive now. Every recent Ghost Face has come from inside the circle, not outside it.
• Nobody stays retired. Stepping away from the story has never once kept anyone out of it.
• Survivors: Sidney Prescott-Evans · Tatum Evans · Mark Evans · Gale Weathers · Mindy Meeks-Martin · Chad Meeks-Martin

Release facts

• Rated: R for strong bloody violence, gore, and language
• Worldwide: $213,835,967 (The Numbers); Box Office Mojo lists $207,999,405

The first trailer came out in October 2025. The film premiered on the Paramount lot in Los Angeles on February 25, 2026, and opened in the United States on February 27, 2026. It is the first Scream film released in IMAX.

Pro-Palestinian groups protested the premiere, organized by Entertainment Labor for Palestine, CodePink LA and Los Angeles Jewish Voice for Peace. Variety counted about 25 protesters and TheWrap said dozens. Boycott calls started with Scream fans after Barrera was fired and were backed by the BDS movement, Film Workers for Palestine, CodePink and the Democratic Socialists of America.

On February 5, 2026, Deadline reported tracking in the mid-$30 million range, and estimates rose to $40 million by release week. Thursday previews brought in $7.8 million, a franchise record. The film opened to $63.6 million in 3,540 theaters, beating Scream VI's $44.4 million for the best opening in the series and the best ever for a horror film released in February. It fell 74 percent in its second weekend to $17.3 million.

It finished with $121.9 million domestic. The Numbers puts the worldwide total at $213.8 million and Box Office Mojo at $208.0 million. Either way it is the highest-grossing Scream film and the first to pass $200 million worldwide. France and the United Kingdom were the biggest markets outside North America, each at about $10.6 million to $11.1 million.

Critics were hard on it. Rotten Tomatoes scored it 30 percent from 227 reviews with a 4.7 out of 10 average, and the consensus called it a creative step back. Metacritic gave it 35 from 42 critics. CinemaScore audiences gave it a B minus, tied with Scream 4 for the lowest in the series, and 61 percent told PostTrak they would definitely recommend it.

Benjamin Lee at The Guardian gave it three stars out of five and called it scrappy but passably entertaining. William Bibbiani at TheWrap called it the worst Scream movie, one without a story that needed telling. Brian Tallerico at RogerEbert.com said it felt rushed and shallow, looked bad, and was cut with a stilted rhythm.

Scores

Cast

Crew

Production

At the Scream VI premiere in March 2023, directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett said they wanted to keep watching Scream movies whether they were involved or not. In August 2023 they left the seventh film over a scheduling conflict with their movie Abigail, and Christopher Landon was hired to direct. Pre-production stopped that same month because of the SAG-AFTRA strike. The first version had been drafted by Vanderbilt and Busick before the 2023 writers' strike, when the producers were still considering a fall 2023 shoot. Those plans belonged to the abandoned Carpenter-centered film, not the version eventually released. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett said they wanted to return but could not meet the proposed production window while preparing Abigail; they described the loss as a disappointment rather than a voluntary rejection of the franchise. Landon had interned at Woods Entertainment during the original film's development, sat in story meetings with Williamson and attended an early test screening. Williamson advocated for him when Radio Silence could not return.

On November 21, 2023, Spyglass fired Melissa Barrera, who played Sam Carpenter, over social media posts about the war in Gaza that the company called antisemitic. Barrera denied that. The next day Jenna Ortega was reported to be out as Tara, with the Wednesday shoot given as the reason. In April 2025 Ortega said the Barrera situation was part of it and that everything was falling apart. Landon announced in December 2023 that he had left weeks earlier. He said the film he signed on to direct no longer existed. He was not part of the decision to fire Barrera, but he got threats against his children, and the FBI got involved. Landon later recalled deciding to leave about a week after Barrera was dismissed, before his departure became public. He said the abandoned screenplay had centered on her, so the specific film he had agreed to make was gone.

The film was rebuilt around the legacy cast. Script rewrites cost about $500,000. The $45 million budget was split evenly between Spyglass and Paramount. In March 2024 Campbell announced on Instagram that she was coming back, with Kevin Williamson directing from a Guy Busick script based on a story by Busick and James Vanderbilt. It is the first Scream film Williamson has directed. Variety reported Campbell's pay at $7 million and Cox's at $2 million. Campbell recalled candid conversations and apologies when the studio approached her again, with negotiations beginning from a more appropriate offer than the one for Scream VI. Her return also included a producing role.

The retooling was meant to bring back series veterans, possibly including Patrick Dempsey, who played Mark Kincaid in Scream 3. Dempsey did not return, citing scheduling and the California wildfires in early 2025. Isabel May was cast as Sidney's daughter in November 2024. Celeste O'Connor, Asa Germann, Mckenna Grace, Sam Rechner and Anna Camp joined in December 2024, when Mason Gooding and Cox were also confirmed. Grace has said she first auditioned for Tatum. In January 2025 Roger L. Jackson was confirmed as the voice, Jasmin Savoy Brown returned, Joel McHale was cast as Mark Evans, and Mark Consuelos, Matthew Lillard and Scott Foley joined. Ethan Embry came aboard in February 2025. David Arquette's return was confirmed in March 2025 along with Michelle Randolph and Jimmy Tatro. Arquette said he was surprised it got out, since it was meant to be a surprise. Tim Simons showed up in the October 2025 trailer. Lillard recalled Williamson unexpectedly calling while he was walking in a park to invite him back. He described returning to the set as exciting but nerve-racking because of the audience's long investment in Stu; that recollection alone did not establish whether the character was alive in the new story.

In December 2025 Skeet Ulrich said he had been set to return as Billy Loomis in a three-film arc that was dropped in the retooling.

Filming was first set for September 2024, then December 2024. Principal photography finally ran in and around Atlanta, Georgia, from January 7 to March 12, 2025. A talk show scene was shot at SCAD Film Studios on Peachtree Street in Midtown Atlanta after a location scout went after the building's retro look. The building used to house a TV studio and was the broadcast home of the 1996 Summer Olympics. A January 2025 snowstorm stretched the planned one-week shoot there to two weeks. Karl Rouse, associate dean of SCAD's School of Film and Acting, said 13 students earned credits on the film. Before her first day filming in Atlanta, Campbell said she had already worked extensively with Williamson on the script there and during the preceding December, using her producing role to help shape its direction.

Guy Busick came up with the deepfake idea. Williamson told Esquire they shot a short coda in which Stu was really alive and kept it in their back pocket. After test screenings, the call was that the audience wanted Stu dead, so the coda was cut.

Paramount went through big changes while the film was being made. Skydance agreed to merge with Paramount Global in July 2024, and the deal closed in August 2025, shortly after production wrapped. Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein became co-chairs of the film studio and Josh Goldstine took over marketing.

Kevin Williamson directs a Scream film for the first time, thirty years after writing the original. Shot in Atlanta between January 7 and March 12, 2025. The production was heavily disrupted: Melissa Barrera was fired by Spyglass in November 2023 over social media posts about Gaza, Jenna Ortega's departure was reported the following day, and director Christopher Landon exited that December calling it "a dream job that turned into a nightmare" after receiving threats. Rewrites cost around $500,000. Neve Campbell was paid $7 million to return, Courteney Cox $2 million. Skeet Ulrich later revealed he had been set to return as Billy Loomis across a planned three-film arc before the retooling.

January 7 to March 12, 2025, in Atlanta, Georgia, at Great Point Studios and on location. Production had originally been scheduled for September 2024, then December 2024 per Campbell. The paperwork codename was "Scar Tissue." The Savannah College of Art and Design's Midtown Atlanta campus supplied the SCAD Film building, chosen, per associate dean of the School of Film and Acting Karl Rouse, because it "has an LED volume wall" and has "that sort of retro look," having served as a broadcast facility during the 1996 Olympics. About 13 SCAD students worked on the production, some operating cameras; art direction students then redressed the space, which became a classroom. Other named Georgia locations: Covington, Douglasville and Smyrna.

This is the most heavily documented casting history in the series. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett exited in August 2023 over a scheduling conflict with Abigail; Christopher Landon was hired that month; pre-production was then suspended by the SAG-AFTRA strike. On November 21, 2023, Melissa Barrera was fired over pro-Palestinian social media posts about the Gaza war, which Spyglass characterized as antisemitic and which Barrera denied. On November 22, 2023, Jenna Ortega's departure was reported; the reason given at the time was a scheduling conflict with Wednesday season two, but in April 2025 she said: "The Melissa stuff was happening, and it was all kind of falling apart. If Scream VII wasn't going to be with that team of directors and those people I fell in love with, then it didn't seem like the right move." Landon officially exited in December 2023, saying the film he had signed on to direct no longer existed and calling it "a dream job that turned into a nightmare"; the FBI became involved over death threats he received from some Barrera supporters.

Kevin Williamson was hired to direct in March 2024, with Campbell's return announced the same month. Variety reported Campbell was paid $7 million and Cox $2 million. Script rewrites after the retooling cost approximately $500,000. Skeet Ulrich confirmed in December 2025 that he had originally been set to return as Billy Loomis across a three-film arc before the retooling. Patrick Dempsey was considered to reprise Mark Kincaid but did not return, due to scheduling and the 2025 California wildfires. Isabel May was cast in November 2024; O'Connor, Germann, Grace, Rechner and Camp in December 2024, alongside confirmations for Gooding and Cox; Savoy Brown on January 16, 2025; Roger L. Jackson, Joel McHale, Matthew Lillard and Scott Foley in January 2025; Ethan Embry in February 2025; David Arquette confirmed in March 2025 after the announcement leaked unexpectedly.

Metro Atlanta, Georgia, standing in for Pine Grove, Indiana.

LocationAddress · Scene

Sidney's house1024 Club Commons Circle NE, Atlanta, GA · The Evans family home; the finale in the unfinished garage

Pine Grove Theater121 East Griffin Street, Dallas, GA · Cinema

Main street318 Main Street, Dallas, GA · Town exteriors

Church401 Main Street, Dallas, GA · Church scene

Coffee shop / "Craven Plaza"33 Courthouse Square, Dallas, GA · Sidney's coffeehouse

3180 Atlanta Road SE, Smyrna, Georgia: The psychiatric hospital / mental institution.

Tavern725 Concord Road SE, Smyrna, GA · Bar

Television studio1600 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta, GA · Gale's TV work

SCAD Atlanta (Savannah College of Art and Design), MidtownAtlanta, GA · Stage work; LED volume

Covington, Douglasville, SmyrnaGA · Additional locations

Stu Macher's house is now an Airbnb and de facto Stab museum, filled with in-universe merchandise and memorabilia, with taped murder outlines on the floors for guest photographs. It is burned down.

Scott and Madison are introduced as Stab franchise fans and are killed in the house.

Lucas Bowden is characterised as obsessed with the Woodsboro killings.

Ghostface's horror-trivia quiz returns, and the Airbnb host uses a Ghostface voice changer to deliver "Do you like scary movies?"

Jessica Bowden's motive is that Sidney's book taught her that surviving trauma by killing is what made Sidney who she is, a mutation of the franchise's own mythology rather than of Stab.

After the 2023 departures, the producers chose a new story rather than reshaping the Carpenter-centered screenplay around different characters. Busick continued the rewrite while Vanderbilt was making Nuremberg, and pitched the Sidney-focused version to Campbell with Williamson and the producers. Busick first tested the Sidney-focused pitch with Williamson over Zoom. They then presented it to Campbell around Sherak's dining-room table, where she offered her own ideas about Sidney's new life. In their early story discussions, Campbell asked for a return to the original film's suspense and emotional investment rather than an escalation of bloodshed. Williamson described that as a creative aim for the reset, not a measure of the finished film's violence. Williamson singled out a lesson from Craven: the character's reaction and the audience's breathing room after a scare help determine the next beat. He connected that moment-by-moment approach to his own acting training. During preparation he treated this as a film that needed to stand on its own, putting the ideas he wanted into it instead of assuming another sequel would follow.

Campbell and Sherak offered Williamson the directing job by phone on February 22, 2024. He wrote the date down. Campbell then announced her return and his appointment together on March 12, sharing the cover of her watermarked script. Before the offer, Williamson had sent Sherak a different script, The Audition, and expressed a desire to direct it. Sherak recalled that conversation helping him recognize Williamson as the director they needed for Scream. Once Campbell and Williamson were attached, the team pitched Cox over Zoom and told her Williamson would direct. He recalled her welcoming the long-awaited move. Williamson said the directing deal was handled through his lawyer, calls and texts without bringing his agents into the negotiations, to reduce the chance of a leak before Campbell announced both pieces of news.

Delia looked for family chemistry when casting Sidney's daughter, rather than relying only on a physical resemblance to Campbell and McHale. Campbell was involved in the choice and responded immediately to May's screen test. Delia described using code names and limiting what auditioning actors were told. He looked for performers who could reveal different sides of a character without judging them, helping the casting both suggest and conceal possible suspects. Delia said a role in an ensemble of this kind could involve considering several hundred actors, while the family roles depended on shared energy and believable chemistry as much as resemblance. Campbell approached Sidney's parenting through the fear that her history might reach her children. She described imagining how Sidney rebuilt a life between the films while remaining alert to danger, an acting approach to the character rather than a new off-screen plot event.

Filming locations

• 1024 Club Commons Circle NE, Atlanta, Georgia: The Evans family house
• 33 Courthouse Square, Dallas, Georgia: Sidney's coffee shop, with the square out front renamed Craven Plaza
• 121 East Griffin Street, Dallas, Georgia: The Pine Grove theater
• 318 Main Street, Dallas, Georgia: Pine Grove street scenes
• 401 Main Street, Dallas, Georgia: Scene beside the church
• 725 Concord Road SE, Smyrna, Georgia: The tavern
• SCAD Film Studios, 1600 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta, Georgia: Television studio and talk show scene

Effects and makeup

Amber Crowe ran the makeup department, with Lauren Killip as key makeup artist. Wayne Rowe was special effects coordinator and Christian Wood supervised the visual effects.

The kills get nasty. Hannah is disemboweled while hanging from a stage harness, and Lucas has his head slammed onto a beer tap until beer comes out of his mouth. Jessica is shot in the face so many times she is left unrecognizable.

Lillard, Arquette, Foley and Metcalf appear only as faces on phones, laptops and television screens. In the story these are deepfakes Marco builds, including an aged and scarred Stu.

Jennifer Badger coordinated stunts and directed second unit, and Noah Bain Garret choreographed the fights. The home release has a stunts featurette called Dance of Death.

Props and costumes

The mask is the standard Fun World Ghost Face. On February 7, 2026, three weeks before release, Paramount and Spyglass sued Los Angeles effects shop Alterian Ghost Factory in California federal court. Alterian claimed it designed the mask first and that Fun World had no right to license it. The studios asked the court to block Alterian from suing, said it had waited about thirty years to complain, and called the move an attempt to shake them down weeks before the film opened. The two sides settled and dropped their suits against each other in May 2026.

The Macher house is packed with in-universe Stab posters and props. The home release has a production design featurette called Building Tension.

Tatum wears Sidney's leather jacket from Scream 2, which upsets Sidney.

Leigh Leverett designed the costumes.

The standard Fun World mask, unchanged. Weeks before release Paramount and Spyglass sued Alterian Ghost Factory, seeking to block copyright claims over who created the design; Alterian argued Fun World never had the authority to license it. The parties settled and withdrew on May 13, 2026.

The killers

Deaths

Marco Beltrami scored the film. He scored the first four films and this is his first Scream score since Scream 4. In late August 2025 he announced he had finished recording with an orchestra in Budapest. The clips he shared included new cues called What's in a Name and School Drama, plus Sidney's Lament and an orchestral take called Mrs. Evans Lament.

Lakeshore Records released Beltrami's score digitally on May 22, 2026. Varese Sarabande put out the score albums for the first six films.

Twisting the Knife by Ice Nine Kills featuring Mckenna Grace, written by Spencer Charnas and Grace. Its music video is on the home release.

Rearranging Scars by Sueco.

Criminal by Jessie Murph.

The Kill by Stella Lefty.

Creepin by Don Toliver.

Not in the film: in December 2023 the band Sad13 released a protest song called Boycott Scream 7.

• Marco Beltrami recorded his orchestral score in Budapest. New cues include "What's in a Name" and "School Drama," alongside orchestral versions of the franchise's "Sidney's Lament" and "Mrs. Evans Lament." Original songs: "Twisting the Knife" by Ice Nine Kills featuring Mckenna Grace; "Rearranging Scars" by Sueco; "Criminal" by Jessie Murph; "The Kill" by Stella Lefty; "Creepin" by Don Toliver.

Home Media

• Digital purchase and rental, March 31, 2026, with more than 40 minutes of extras. The digital version has the extended cut of the Twisting the Knife music video.
• 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray combo pack, Limited Edition 4K Ultra HD SteelBook, and DVD from Paramount, June 16, 2026. The 4K disc is 2.39:1 in Dolby Vision and HDR10 with Dolby Atmos sound.
• Extras: Scar Tissue: The Making of Scream 7 (about 22 minutes); Building Tension: Production Design (about 8 minutes); Dance of Death: Stunts (about 6 minutes); Ice Nine Kills Presents Twisting the Knife featuring Mckenna Grace music video (about 3 minutes, standard version on disc); and six deleted scenes (about 5 minutes).

Official studio availability

Official theatrical collectibles

Where to watch

Trailers and videos

Scream 7, Official Trailer

Paramount Pictures

The main trailer from Paramount's own channel.

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Final Trailer

Paramount Pictures

The last trailer before release.

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Official Trailer

Paramount Pictures UK

The official trailer from the UK channel.

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Who Is Ghost Face

Paramount Pictures UK

A short piece teasing the identity of the new killer.

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Official Special Look

KinoCheck.com

A promotional special look at a confrontation from the film.

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Extended Clip, Family versus Ghost Face

Paramount Movies

SPOILERS

A long official clip of the family being attacked.

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Kevin Williamson on Directing Scream 7

Rotten Tomatoes Trailers

The writer of the series talking about stepping up to direct.

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Like Mother Like Daughter, behind the scenes

IGN

Behind the scenes footage built around Sidney and her daughter.

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Stu Macher, behind the scenes

IGN

SPOILERS

Behind the scenes on the return of the Stu Macher character.

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Making Of, full behind the scenes special

Hollywood+

A full length making of program about the seventh film.

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Cast and Director Interviews

TheMovieReport.com

Press interviews with Neve Campbell, Mason Gooding, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Isabel May and the director.

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Ghost Face Guts McKenna Grace

Movieclips

SPOILERS

One of the kill scenes in high resolution.

Gallery

Posters & Key Art

Film Stills

Behind the Scenes

Locations

Props

Production Documents