Late Wednesday evening, the fine folk over at Bloody Disgusting published an exclusive report stating that Gary Barber’s Spyglass Media Group is currently developing the next SCREAM, which is of course based on the iconic franchise created by the late horror mastermind Wes Craven and writer Kevin Williamson.
The first film in the SCREAM franchise had arrived in December of 1996, and in time had Craven taking a stab at helming three sequels, all of which were well-received by fans of the Ghostface killer saga. All four films are considered to be a part of the franchise's official canon, while MTV's SCREAM television series set out to create its own mythology. Regardless of each film's box office reception, the SCREAM franchise has remained a fan-favorite series since the late '90s, and is responsible for adding another Scream Queen to the horror pantheon thanks to Neve Campbell's performance as the formidable Sidney Precott.
According to BD's report, Williamson is not believed to be in charge of writing the newest film in the series. Previously, Variety explained how Spyglass was able to obtain the rights to the SCREAM franchise by saying, “Spyglass Media Group was re-launched as a content company in March by former MGM topper Barber, Lantern Entertainment co-presidents Andy Mitchell and Milos Brajovic and strategic investors Eagle Pictures and Cineworld Group.”
I suppose the question now is: How will Spyglass approach this new installment to the series? Will it be a hard reboot of the concept? Will Campbell return to pass the torch to another not-so-helpless victim? Will the new film ignore many of the sequels and be a continuance of the original, a la David Gordon Green's HALLOWEEN? That last recipe didn't work out so well for Tim Miller's TERMINATOR: DARK FATE, so perhaps it's best that Spyglass sets their sites on approving a script that acts as a fifth film in the SCREAM canon. Anything is possible, and we'll be sure to bring you any details as this project develops.
To wrap this all up, please enjoy this synopsis from Craven's original and fabled horror film:
Wes Craven re-invented and revitalized the slasher-horror genre with this modern horror classic, which manages to be funny, clever and scary, as a fright-masked knife maniac stalks high-school students in middle-class suburbia. Craven is happy to provide both tension and self-parody as the body count mounts – but the victims aren't always the ones you'd expect.