Suffice to say, Scream 5 surpassed expectations at the global box office. At the time of writing, the slasher reboot has earned more than $100 million worldwide and, in doing so, became the first movie to dethrone Spider-Man: No Way Home from the top spot in several markets.
The movie did so well, in fact, that Paramount has already decided to press ahead with the next instalment in the franchise (per The Hollywood Reporter).
Ready or Not duo Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett will return to direct, with James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick also returning to pen the script on the presumptively-titled Scream 6.
That’s what fans of the latest Scream movie are calling it, anyway. Shortly after the theatrical premiere of Scream 5 – which is being marketed without the numerical title – the hashtag #Scream6 started trending on Twitter.
Given that Scream 5 is a direct sequel to 2011's Scream 4, too, it seems most likely that any new entry in the series would continue in the same timeline.
In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, franchise producer Chad Villella hinted at what fans could expect should a sequel movie get the green light: “In order to make [Scream 6] special, you need to subvert things that have been established as the new rules and play outside of those parameters. Let’s break the rules now that we just re-created. And just go for it. I think you have to really go there.”
Whatever story the now-greenlit Scream 6 does decide to tell, then, it’s safe to expect more of the genre-bending “new rules” established by its predecessor.
Principal photography is slated to begin this summer, so hopefully fans of the franchise won't have too long to wait for more Ghostface-killing action.
Analysis: a horror renaissance
In the meantime, horror fans have plenty of blood and gore to look forward to elsewhere in 2022.
Hot on the heels of Scream’s mask-wearing villain is another facially-challenged foe, Leatherface, who returns to screens in Netflix’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboot on February 18.
Franchises including Jeepers Creepers, Hellraiser and Evil Dead are also set to dust off the cobwebs with reboots and long-awaited sequels in the coming year, while Jordan Peele’s Nope will look to add some memorable original storytelling to a genre in desperate need of new blood.
We’ve collated all the titles worth looking out for in our list of new horror movies coming to theaters and streamers in 2022, which we’ll be updating as and when more projects are announced.
- These are the best horror games you can play right now
