Following the success of the new Scream, Paramount greenlights Scream 6 for a 2023 release. 2022's Scream, the fifth film in the franchise, brought in a new creative team to breathe life back into the franchise, whose last installment, Scream 4, was released in 2011. Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin directed the film from a script by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick. Scream was dubbed a "requel," serving as both a reboot and a sequel that brought back legacy characters while also introducing new ones to take the reigns of the franchise. Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette all returned for the fifth film, with Skeet Ulrich popping in for a surprising, de-aged role. The newcomers to the cast include Jenna Ortega, Jack Quaid, Dylan Minnette, Jasmin Savoy Brown, and Melissa Barrera as the new lead.
Scream opened in January to critical and audience acclaim, with many touting it as the best in the franchise since 1996's original. The film was instantly successful, earning $30 million in its opening weekend, which almost beat the total domestic earnings of Scream 4's $38 million. The new Scream now sits just shy of $140 million at the worldwide box office, putting it on par with the returns seen from the franchise's original trilogy. Given that the budget for 2022's Scream was reported to be around $24 million, the financial returns are more than enough to warrant Scream 6 which was announced recently.
The official Scream announced that Paramount and Spyglass have given Scream 6 a March 31, 2023 release date. The creative team behind the reboot is set to return for Scream 6, with Gillett and Bettinelli-Olpin once again at the helm and Vanderbilt and Busick penning the script. In addition, Kevin Williamson, who wrote the original Scream, Scream 2, and Scream 4, will again serve as an executive producer for the sequel.
The Scream reboot left the door open for new and old characters to return for Scream 6. While Arquette's Dewey met his demise in the reboot, making his return unlikely, the same fate did not stop Ulrich from appearing, so the possibility is there. It seems more than likely that Scream 6 will focus on Barrera's Sam Carpenter, who was handed the reigns as the new final girl, standing shoulder to shoulder with Cox's Gale Weathers and Campbell's Sidney Prescott in the film's finale. Scream 6 may also see other new characters returning, with the Meeks-Martins siblings and Ortega's Tara Carpenter all surviving.
Given that the sequel was just announced, details on Scream 6 will be kept under wraps for some time. However, the new rules set up in Scream offer unique opportunities to keep the franchise fresh moving forward. Additionally, the level of Campbell or Cox's involvement is unknown, though Cox has stated that she got a Scream 6 script, while also revealing that filming is supposed to start in June. Further information on Scream 6 will be forthcoming as the project develops.
Source: Scream