The horror genre has always been one of Hollywood’s favorites because of the low risk and high reward involved in making movies on thrifty budgets that have the potential to rake in massive profits, as well as the fact that audiences have more than proven themselves willing to show up in huge numbers for sequels no matter how badly the law of diminishing returns has set in.
Reboots and remakes are also par for the course, with any horror brand with even the slightest hint of name recognition being monetized until it’s been well and truly run into the ground, and then the studios just wait for a few years and simply begin the cycle anew. Having lain dormant for close to a decade, the Scream franchise is the latest property heading back to the big screen, in what looks set to be an almost entirely nostalgia-driven exercise.
The 1996 original remains a subversive and self-aware modern horror classic, and despite spawning three follow-ups, the critical consensus remained surprisingly positive, with the four entries boasting an average Rotten Tomatoes score of 65%. A fifth installment is slated to arrive next year, with David Arquette and Courtney Cox having signed on to reprise their roles, and we’ve now heard that Neve Campbell is poised to complete the set and return for Scream 5.
According to our intel – which comes from the same sources that told us a new Scream movie was in the works almost a year ago, well before it was announced – Campbell has proven to be the hardest to convince out of the three legacy players, but she’s now said to have finally signed on the dotted line to play Sidney Prescott once again. Furthermore, we’re told that while the studio is currently waiting to announce her involvement, we should hear something official soon.
Of course, it still remains to be seen if Scream 5 is a story worth telling or if it just marks the latest in a long line of cash-grabs designed to squeeze every penny out of a well-known franchise before all of its relevance has disappeared. But with the original cast now firmly back on board, it seems that even non-fans should give this one the benefit of the doubt until it arrives at some point next year.
