Jenna Ortega (Jane the Virgin) has joined the cast for the upcoming fifth entry in theScreamhorror franchise, alongsideCourteney Cox, David Arquette, and Melissa Barrera. The newScreamhas Matthew Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, the team behindReady or Not, attached to direct, with a screenplay by James Vanderbilt(Zodiac)and Guy Busick(Ready or Not).
Sources vary at the moment on whether the newScreamis a full series reboot or a sequel, although more places seem to be saying “reboot” than not. A newScream,assuming it makes its planned 2021 release date, would be the first film in the larger series for 10 years,following 2011’sScream 4.
RELATED:David Arquette Reprising Role As Sheriff Dewey in Scream 5
Neve Campbell, star of the first fourScreammovies, saidduring an interview in Maythat she was talking with theScream 5team about rejoining the cast, but there’s been no word since. Kevin Williamson, the writer of the first, second, and fourthScreammovies, is attached toScream 5as an executive producer.
The originalScream,back in 1996, arguably revitalized the slasher-movie subgenre, introduced thenow-weirdly-iconic killer Ghostface, and led to a trend of self-aware characters in horror. With studios like Blumhouse leading a revitalization of horror as a mainstream film genre, and other long-running franchises likeHalloweenmaking a comeback, it was probably only a matter of time before someone tried to make a newScream.
It had a long road to get here, however. All fourfilms in theScreamseriesto date were directed by Wes Craven (A Nightmare on Elm Street), who passed away in 2015, and 2011’sScream 4underperformed at the box office. While both Craven and Williamson were under contract to make aScream 5, creative differences between them and the film studio, the Weinstein Company, kept the project in limbo. The Weinsteins eventually went on to create the 2015 TV showScreamfor MTV instead, leaving the film franchise dead on the vine.
The Weinstein Company was subsequently forced into bankruptcy in 2018, following a collapsed buyout and the revelation that its co-founder Harvey Weinstein had beencommitting hundreds of crimes. The Weinstein assets were purchased by Lantern Capital Partners later that year, which formed a new company, Spyglass Media, to make new film and TV projects with the Weinstein Company’s IPs. (This also includes a planned revival of theHellraiserfranchise by David Goyer, because nothing lives up to that series’s themes more thannot leaving it alone.) Spyglass successfully won the full rights toScreamin July of 2019,following a claim by Viacom, and subsequently announced plans for a newScreamback in March.
While no production schedule has been established yet, the newScreamwill be shot in Wilmington, North Carolina, aiming for a full theatrical release in 2021. Ortega can next be seen in the upcoming Netflix original movieYes Day, alongside Jennifer Garner.
