Cheat Sheet: Weinstein, Gaza boycotts, dead bodies and 30 years of Scream

Welcome to Cheat Sheet, where we give you all the intel you need about iconic shows and films. In honour of its 30th anniversary and its new addition, this time we're looking at the meta slasher series Scream.

“What’s your favourite scary movie?”

It's a question that launched an entire series, and 30 years later many horror fans would say in earnest that at least one edition in the Scream franchise is their favourite fright-fest.

Since Ghostface slashed through our screens three decades ago, Kevin Williamson's series — which has spawned seven movies, three seasons of television and a litany of Halloween costumes — has been attempting to subvert the tropes of the horror genre.

After a soft reboot in 2022, the franchise has been pumping out new editions with some fans now settling in to watch Scream 7, while others have been organising boycotts and protests against the new edition.

Here's what you need to know.

The history of Scream

Scream started its life under a different name. In 1994, then-unknown screenwriter Kevin Williamson wrote a script about a knife-wielding slasher after watching a special on a Florida serial killer. He called it Scary Movie.

In the mid-90s, the horror genre was in a slump; tropes made famous by legendary genre fodder of the 70s and 80s like Halloween and Friday the 13th had become tired.

"The genre had run aground … I thought if you could just expose the rules and play with them, then the audience doesn't know what they're going to get. Suddenly they're on edge," Williamson told EW in 2021.

After selling to Miramax for around $US400,000, the snappy satirical script was delivered a blessing when horror legend Wes Craven came on board as director. The cast began to fill out with the expected emerging actors, but also collected A-list names in Friends' Courtney Cox and movie star Drew Barrymore.

But Barrymore wasn't the final girl; that would be Sidney Prescott (a mostly unknown Neve Campbell). In fact, despite Barrymore's aghast face being plastered over promotional materials, the ET star is brutally killed off by the Ghostface killer before the title cards even run, a resounding declaration that Scream was not playing by the horror rule book.

Williamson went further, including an entire scene in Scream where, after it becomes apparent there is a killer on the loose in the suburby town of Woodsboro, proto film bro Randy (Jamie Kennedy) pauses to give his friends the "rules to survive a horror movie": 'Never have sex, never drink or use drugs and never, under any circumstances say you'll 'be right back'.

Miramax head Bob Weinstein couldn't see the vision. He had complaints over the tone of the footage already shot, but mostly he didn't think the killer's now iconic ghostface mask was scary. The studio wanted to own the design but the distorted The Scream-like mask Craven wanted was based on a mass-produced Halloween costume from the early 90s.

Weinstein demanded the movie's opening scene be reshot multiple times using studio-approved masks. Craven instead insisted on being allowed to provide an edited version, complete with temporary music and sound effects.

Weinstein barred Craven and producers from the studio screening of their makeshift edit but afterwards Craven was permitted to continue with his vision with Weinstein telling him, "Keep going."

Scary Movie kept its name so late into production that many cast and crew were given wrap gifts bearing the original name. The newly christened Scream entered US theatres in December 1996.

Released five days before Christmas and into a holiday schedule already stuffed with high-profile productions like Jerry Maguire and Space Jam, hopes of cut-through dried up as it opened to a muted $US6 million opening weekend with Variety declaring it "DOA" — dead on arrival.

But instead of fizzling out of the box office, positive word-of-mouth reviews saw the movie jump to $10 million by week three. By the end of its theatrical run, Scream had grossed $173 million internationally on a budget of $14 million.

The impact of Scream

Thirty years later, Scream has cemented itself in the hallowed halls of horror. Just as the innovation of films like Psycho and The Exorcist had inspired Williamson, Scream inspired a new generation of filmmakers to break the genre rules in movies like 2011's Cabin in the Woods and Jordan Peele's 2017 breakthrough Get Out.

In a mindbending piece of meta history, Scream also served as the inspiration for the Wayans brothers' Scary Movie spoof series, which itself is receiving a 2026 reboot almost 15 years after the last edition.

But Scream is far from the end of the story, with Ghostface and co continuing for another six movies, while weathering changes in cast, directors and audience tastes.

Scream 2

The one at college

Production on a Scream sequel started months after the original debuted with Scream 2 landing in cinemas less than 12 months after the original. Scream 2 moved the action from high school to Windsor College where Sidney is studying while attempting to recover from the trauma of the first film.

Retaining Craven, Williamson and most of the cast from the original, Scream 2 leans even further into meta-commentary with the introduction of movie-within-a-movie Stab, further satirising the well-trodden tropes of horror movie sequels.

Garnering positive reviews for its sharp, witty script, Scream 2 grossed $172 million internationally, enough for a third edition of the now-expanding franchise to go into production.

Scream 3

The one about Hollywood

While Miramax was pushing for a third Scream, the success of the original and fellow teen slasher I Know What You Did Last Summer meant Williamson was booked and busy.

Ehren Kruger was passed screenwriting duties, while Craven stayed on as director. Scream 3 went full Hollywood satire transporting the action to an in-universe film set as a new Ghostface begins to kill off the cast of Stab 3.

Released in 2000, Scream 3 grossed $163 million worldwide but was plagued by negative reviews that claimed the subversive series had fallen back on cliches.

The post-Columbine school shooting, turn-of-the-century cultural climate wasn't as welcoming to a comedic slasher. Negative reviews coupled with bad press due to several real-life copycat murders meant the Scream franchise went dark for more than a decade.

Scre4m (Scream 4)

The tech-driven comeback

After languishing in development limbo for several years, 2011's Scream 4 brought back familiar faces and a new story about the then-emerging dangers of the social media-obsessed.

Scream 4 fared better critically than its predecessor but failed to crack $100 million at the box office, becoming the lowest-grossing edition in the series.

While Craven, Williamson and the cast expressed interest in continuing the franchise following Scream 4, Craven's 2015 death, the franchise's television adaptation (which was only loosely connected to film lore) and the collapse of The Weinstein Company following Harvey Weinstein's sexual misconduct scandals put Scream on the backburner.

Scream (Scream 5)

The "requal"

Just like its villain, Scream wasn't that easy to kill. In 2019 production company Spyglass announced it had bought the rights to another Scream film and by 2020 a fifth film with Williamson and the main cast was in development. After a brief delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Scream 5 hit cinemas at the beginning of 2022.

Officially (and confusingly) titled Scream, the fifth movie included the legacy cast but also included a new generation of young relatives and two new scream queen protagonists in half-sisters Tara (Jenna Ortega) and Sam (Melissa Barrera), the latter of which is the illegitimate child of original Scream killer Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich).

Acting as both a reboot and a sequel, a "requal" as Randy descendant Mindy Meeks Martin (Jasmin Savoy Brown) puts it, Scream 5 brought in $138 million worldwide and was praised by critics as a return to form.

Scream VI (Scream 6)

The one without Sidney

Within weeks of release, Scream 6 was greenlit, but in June 2022 Neve Campbell announced she would not return citing a breakdown in salary negotiations with producers.

"I felt the offer that was presented to me did not equate to the value I have brought to the franchise. It's been a very difficult decision to move on," Campbell said.

Cast members, including Barrera, and Scream 5 directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett publicly supported Campbell's position pushing forward with Scream VI, the only film in the franchise not to feature Campbell. Released in early 2023, Scream 6 grossed $US166 million worldwide — the highest takings since the first two in the franchise.

What's happening with Scream 7?

In late 2023, while pre-production on Scream 7 was stalled due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, news broke that Melissa Barrera had been dropped from the film over social media posts condemning the Israel-Gaza war.

"Gaza is currently being treated like a concentration camp," Barrera wrote in an Instagram story in October 2023. "This is genocide and ethnic cleansing."

In response to the firing, Spyglass released a statement to Variety saying they had "zero tolerance" for antisemitism. Barrera released her own statement in response: "I condemn antisemitism and Islamophobia. I condemn hate and prejudice of any kind against any group of people.

"I believe a group of people are NOT their leadership, and that no governing body should be above criticism …I will continue to speak out for those that need it most and continue to advocate for peace and safety, for human rights and freedom. Silence is not an option for me," she said.

In a 2024 interview with The Independent, Barrera said after being dropped from Scream, work offers dried up in what the actor described as "the darkest and hardest year of [her] life".

Days after Barrera's firing was made public, Jenna Ortega announced she was dropping out of Scream 7, allegedly due to scheduling conflicts. Ortega clarified later that her departure was due in part to "the Melissa situation".

A month later director Christopher Landon confirmed that he too was out. He revealed in 2025 that his departure was due to the changes that were now necessary without Barrera: "There was no movie anymore. The whole script was about her."

Scream 7 directing duties were eventually handed to Scream creator Williamson for the first time, and a new script was reworked around Neve Campbell's Sidney after the actor confirmed her return on a reported salary of $US7 million.

Williamson and screenwriter Guy Busick retooled Scream 7's story to revolve around Sidney and her teenage daughter Tatum (Isabel May). Production confirmed that they were leaning into nostalgia with the casting of deceased Ghostfaces Matthew Lillard, Scott Foley and Laurie Metcalf, as well as the return of cop Dewey (David Arquette) who died in Scream 5.

The returning legacy characters appear momentarily as AI recreations in Scream 7.

Following the major changes to Scream 7, a section of the franchise's loyal fanbase called for a boycott of the film in support of Barrera.

Most recently, pro-Palestine protesters gathered outside Paramount Studios prior to Scream 7's LA premiere further supporting the boycott.

"We live in a world where a lot of bad things are happening out there, and I think a lot of people want to be heard and they want to have their voice heard about the bad stuff that's happening," Williamson told Variety.

"My heart goes out to them. I don't know if canceling Paramount+ is the way to do it. But I think people should listen to their inner self and do what feels good for them."

Despite the boycott and many of the film's plot points, including the killers, being revealed on social media days before release, predictions have Scream 7 at a $US40-50 million opening weekend in the US.

Scream 7 is in cinemas now.