Ghostface is back! Check out the “Scream” popcorn bucket and more.
Ghostface-themed popcorn buckets and cups were released ahead of the seventh installment of the Scream movie series.
Ghostface cannot be held back.
“Scream 7” had the biggest opening weekend in the horror series’ 30-year history, vaulting it to No. 1 at the domestic box office.
The latest slasher sequel starring Neve Campbell grossed $64.1 million in North American theaters, according to ComScore estimates released Sunday. This surpasses the opening weekend gross of Scream VI in 2023, which was the highest in the series’ history at $44.4 million. It’s also the biggest opening weekend of 2026 so far, surpassing the $32.8 million opening of Wuthering Heights.
Prior to “Scream VI,” the fifth “Scream” movie, the first in the series in more than a decade, was released in January 2022 for $30 million amid ongoing concerns about the coronavirus. The series’ lowest-grossing film, 2011’s Scream 4, started 2011 with $18.7 million.
Campbell stars in Scream 7 as Sidney Prescott, a five-time Ghostface survivor who discovers a mysterious new killer is targeting her and her teenage daughter, played by series newcomer Isabel May. Courteney Cox, Jasmine Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding and Joel McHale also star.
The success of Scream 7 was a victory for Paramount, whose sequel production had been controversial following the firing of Melissa Barrera.
In 2023, Barrera, who played Sam Carpenter in the last two Scream films, was dropped from Scream 7 for posting social media posts about the Israeli-Hamas war, which production company Spyglass claimed constituted hate speech. Barrera, who has supported Palestine and criticized Israel, said at the time that he condemned “hatred and bigotry of any kind against any group.”
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators demonstrated outside the Los Angeles premiere of Scream 7 on Wednesday, February 25th. Barrera appeared to be referring to the demonstration by writing on Instagram, “I met you.”
Jenna Ortega, who played Barrera’s sister in the previous two Scream movies, also declined to appear in Scream 7. Ortega later linked his decision to Barrera’s firing and the departures of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillette, who directed the two “Scream” films in which he appeared. “It had nothing to do with pay or schedule,” Ortega told The Cut. “Everything was falling apart with the Melissa[Barrera]thing going on.”
Director Christopher Landon also announced that he would be leaving Scream 7 in 2023, calling the project a “dream job turned nightmare.” He said the decision to fire Barrera was out of his hands, but that it led to him receiving death threats.
Once these were done, “Scream 7” hit the reset button and turned its focus back to Campbell. Her character, Sidney Prescott, was the main character in the first four Scream movies from 1996 to 2011. However, in the fifth film, which was released in 2022, Sidney was relegated to a supporting role as Barrera star Sam Carpenter took center stage as the new lead. Later, Sidney was completely absent from 2023’s Scream VI, as Campbell refused to appear in the film due to salary issues.
The off-screen firing created an unusual situation in which the series handed over the torch to a new lead but returned to the original star who held the torch in the first place. The whereabouts of Barrera and Ortega’s characters are not explained in Scream 7.
Critics were not kind to Scream 7, which received the lowest score of the series on Rotten Tomatoes. This marks a significant decline from the previous two “Scream” series, which were both highly rated. In an audience poll conducted by CinemaScore, Scream 7 received an average rating of B-, the lowest rating in the series along with Scream 4.
With the box office success of Scream 7, it seems inevitable that another sequel will be made. But whether this mixed response means viewers will start sending Ghostface straight to voicemail anytime soon is an open question.
