Say what you will about the “Scream” franchise, but it’s a financial juggernaut. Together, the low-budget meta-horror picks have so far brought in over $500 million and it’s no wonder that Dimension Films are returning to the well nearly a decade after “Scream 3.” However, the path to “Scream 4” wasn’t exactly smooth sailing. Franchise creator Kevin Williamson, who originally penned the script, departed the film last summer, with Ehren Kruger (”Scream 3,” “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”) coming in and making drastic changes to the script with reports of cast members jumping ship or simply being unhappy with the new direction their character’s had taken. But with the film now a week away from hitting theaters, it looks everyone is friends again. Recently Williamson revealed that his blowup with Bob Weinstein was just par for the course, and that they wound up hugging it out Ari Gold style. And at the end of day both Williamson and Wes Craven would be happy to return for “Scream 5” and “Scream 6” — with caveats of course.
“I always prided myself on coming up with a shot list, but quite often we’d literally get new pages the night before, sometimes the day of and that was very stressful,” director Wes Craven noted to EW (print edition; not yet online), saying that next time around, he wants to read a completed script before signing anything. As confirmed in the article, and as Craven notes, the shoot was a mess with the screenplay being written in the midst of production making for a chaotic set.
As for Williamson, he’s playing it even more coy. Even though things seem patched up with Weinsteins, he won’t commit to any future films until he finds out what what the box office thinks of “Scream 4” saying, “If people respond to the film, then yes, there are more twists and turns.” In fact, he’s already got stories for “Scream 5” and “Scream 6” mapped out.
But whatever bad vibes may have been happening behind the scenes, everyone in the cast is eager to come back — if they’re still alive — and they’re not gonna say if they get offed or not in the film, or if they have options for future sequels, so don’t even ask. But David Arquette does say, “I love this character; and I always want to be part of it and always wanna do it.”
At the end of the day, Bob Weinstein puts it best saying, “‘Scream’ is the definition of Dimension.” The honcho and producer fought hard to make the forthcoming sequel as good as possible especially to meet the high expectations of fans. Whether or not the fracas during filming was worth it remains to be seen.
“Scream 4” opens on April 15th.
