“Scream” franchise creator Kevin Williams says he has “a lot of ideas” for an eighth movie. “If this film is successful and there’s an audience for it, you know we’ll make it because 1, I think the studio would like to make it, and 2, we the people who make these movies would love to make it because…they’re a blast to make and they’re so much fun,” Williamson, who makes his franchise directorial debut with a “Scream 7.”
Variety reported earlier this week that “insiders suggest plans are already in place for the killer’s lethal return in an eighth film.”
Franchise executive producer Marianne Maddalena told me that shooting for “Scream 8” may begin in the fall. However, sources say it’s still too early to say when cameras could start rolling. “Scream 7” sees Neve Campbell reprising her iconic role as Sidney Prescott after not appearing in the sixth installment over a pay dispute. Courteney Cox is also back as Gale Weathers. Returning and new cast members include Isabel May, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Anna Camp, Jimmy Tatro, Joel McHale, Celeste O’Connor, Mckenna Grace, Sam Rechner, Ethan Embry, Victor Turpin and Tim Simons. Past cast members David Arquette, Scott Foley and Matthew Lillard may or may not be in the new movie as well. Cox remained hilariously tight-lipped about coming back for “Scream 8.” “How do you know I survived [‘Scream 7’]?” she said, adding, “I think everyone should want to do another ‘Scream.’ It’s fun and it’s great. I don’t think I can make the next one, but maybe we’ll see.”
Back when the original “Scream” was released in 1996, Cox said she never thought she’d still be playing Gale three decades later, “but after the first one came out, I was like, ‘Until I get killed, I’m coming back.’” “Scream 7” is full of imaginative new kills. No gory spoilers here, but will they become as legendary as some of the franchise’s past deaths? “It was always Tatum [Rose McGowan] in the garage door because that’s a classic,” Gooding said when asked his favorite franchise kill. “It’s fantastic. But there’s something about Anika [Devyn Nekoda] falling out of the window onto the dumpster in ‘VI’ that I find incredibly gruesome and cathartic in a lot of ways.” Arquette recalled when Tatum’s garage death was shot. “it was just so random. Who thought of that craziness?” he said. “Then when you were there her fake body was hanging there for weeks after they shot the scene and moved on but no one ever pulled the hanging Tatum body down. It was just hanging there for a good two weeks.” “Scream 7” is in theaters now.