Sidney's Daughter in the Crosshairs: Scream 7

Scream 7 (2026) is a slasher film directed by Kevin Williamson, who co-wrote the script with Guy Busick. It is the seventh film in the Scream series and follows Scream VI (2023). Neve Campbell returns as Sidney Prescott, now living quietly in Indiana, whose teenage daughter Tatum (Isabel May) becomes the target of a new Ghostface. Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Matthew Lillard, Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding also return. The film went through a major retooling. The directors of the previous two films left, and Spyglass fired star Melissa Barrera. Jenna Ortega and new director Christopher Landon then departed too. Paramount released it on February 27, 2026. Reviews were mostly negative, but it grossed $214 million worldwide on a $45 million budget, the highest total in the series.

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At a glance

Release date	February 25, 2026 (premiere, Paramount lot); February 27, 2026 (US)
Director	Kevin Williamson
Writers	Screenplay by Kevin Williamson and Guy Busick; story by James Vanderbilt and Busick
Starring	Neve Campbell, Isabel May, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Anna Camp, David Arquette, Matthew Lillard, Joel McHale, Courteney Cox
Music	Marco Beltrami
Runtime	114 minutes
Rating	R (US)
Budget	$45 million
Box office	$214 million worldwide
Franchise	Scream: sequel to Scream VI (2023)

Plot summary

In Woodsboro, two Stab fans visit Stu Macher’s old house after hearing rumors that he survived the night of the original murders. Ghostface kills them and sets the house on fire. In Pine Grove, Indiana, Sidney Prescott has built a new life. She runs a coffeehouse, is married to police chief Mark Evans (Joel McHale) and is raising three children. Her teenage daughter is named Tatum, after Sidney’s late best friend. Then Ghostface calls and asks for a video call. On screen is an aged, scarred Stu (Matthew Lillard), who says he is coming for Tatum.

After an attack at Tatum’s theater rehearsal and a night assault on the family home, Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) and her assistants, the twins Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and Chad Meeks-Martin (Mason Gooding), run down the masked attacker. He turns out to be an escaped mental patient. At the institution, a supervisor recognizes “Stu” as a recently released John Doe. Sidney agrees to a live TV interview with Gale to draw him out, while Tatum spends the evening at a tavern with her boyfriend and friends.

Spoiler section: who is behind Stu

Tatum finds a laptop in her boyfriend Ben’s car that is testing a deepfake of Stu’s face, but Ghostface kills Ben anyway. After a chase, Tatum is taken captive at home. “Stu” appears on screen and morphs into earlier killers and the late Dewey Riley (David Arquette). Ghostface turns out to be Marco Davis, the institution supervisor, who used his background in information technology to create “Stu.” The second killer is Sidney’s neighbor Jessica Bowden (Anna Camp). Inspired by Sidney’s autobiography, she murdered her abusive husband and her own son, and she planned to turn Tatum into a new final girl through trauma. Sidney shoots Marco, and mother and daughter kill Jessica together. Williamson said an alternate ending shown to test audiences, in which Stu really was alive, was cut.

Production and behind the scenes

The film was co-financed equally by Spyglass Media Group and Paramount. In August 2023, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, directors of the previous two films, left because of a scheduling conflict with Abigail. Christopher Landon replaced them, and pre-production was then suspended by the SAG-AFTRA strike. In November 2023, Spyglass fired Melissa Barrera over social media posts about the Gaza war. Spyglass called them antisemitic, which Barrera denied. Deadline reported the next day that Jenna Ortega would not return because of Wednesday. Ortega later said she left over the creative team changes. Landon also departed.

In March 2024, Campbell announced she was returning, after sitting out Scream VI over a pay dispute. Williamson, writer of the original Scream, would direct. Campbell was reportedly paid $7 million. Isabel May was cast as Sidney’s daughter that November. Roger L. Jackson returned as the voice of Ghostface. Lillard returned to the role of Stu, and Scott Foley to Roman Bridger from Scream 3. Filming ran in Atlanta from January 7 to March 12, 2025. Marco Beltrami, composer of the first four films, recorded his score with an orchestra in Budapest.

Release and reception

Scream 7 premiered on the Paramount lot in Los Angeles on February 25, 2026, and opened two days later, the first film in the series released in IMAX. Calls to boycott it over Barrera’s firing had circulated since 2023, and protesters gathered at the premiere. It earned a franchise-record $7.8 million from previews and opened to $63.6 million, the biggest start in the series and the highest-grossing launch ever for a horror film released in February. It dropped 74% in its second weekend. It finished with $122 million in the US and Canada and $214 million worldwide, the highest total in the series.

Critics were mostly negative. Rotten Tomatoes lists 30% of 227 reviews as positive. Its consensus calls the film “a disappointing creative regression,” and Metacritic scores it 35. CinemaScore audiences gave it a B−, tied with Scream 4 for the series low. Benjamin Lee of The Guardian gave three stars to “a scrappy, passably entertaining new chapter.” William Bibbiani of TheWrap wrote that “there are no bad Scream movies (yet)… and this is the worst one.”

Legacy and influence

Scream 7 brought Sidney back to the center of the series, after the Carpenter sisters led Scream (2022) and Scream VI. It also returned Williamson to the franchise he began with Wes Craven. Before release, Paramount and Spyglass sued Alterian Ghost Factory, which claimed ownership of the Ghostface mask. The two sides settled in May 2026. On March 31, 2026, Lilla and Nora Zuckerman were announced as writers of Scream 8, already in development at Paramount and Spyglass.

Trivia

It was Williamson’s first time directing a Scream film.
The soundtrack includes “Twisting the Knife” by Ice Nine Kills, featuring cast member Mckenna Grace.
Beltrami reworked the classic “Sidney’s Lament” into a new cue, “Mrs. Evans Lament.”
In December 2023, Sad13 released a song titled “Boycott Scream 7.”
Patrick Dempsey was in talks to return as Kincaid, but he said scheduling conflicts and the California wildfires kept him out.