When Scream first dropped back in 1996, a slasher mega-franchise was born – with nearly three decades’ worth of horror flicks, fans might be wondering: how many Scream movies are there, and is another in the pipeline? Read on to find out.
Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson’s first Scream redefined the horror genre, breathing new life (or death, should we say) into the slasher genre thanks to its blend of horror, dark comedy, and metatextual commentary. The movie also introduced us to one of the greatest horror icons in the form of Ghostface, while also putting strong female leads front and center.
Beyond its critical acclaim, Scream’s box office success was impressive: despite a modest budget of a reported $15 million, the film grossed over $170 million worldwide, making it one of the most successful slasher films of all time.
Although different writers, directors, and Ghostfaces have appeared in the films that followed – and we’ve since seen the focus shift away from Sidney (Neve Campbell) – all of them feature a killer donning the infamous mask with the same menacing modus operandi of terrorizing their victims via phone before attacking.
How many Scream movies are there?
A total of six Scream movies have been released so far, which isn’t all that surprising, considering the latest is titled Scream VI. That being said, the movie that came before the sixth saw directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett take over from Craven, and is titled Scream like the original – hence the confusion.
Below you can find the Scream movies in release order, alongside the directors and writers respectively:
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- Scream (1996) – Wes Craven, Kevin Williamson
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- Scream 2 (1997) – Wes Craven, Kevin Williamson
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- Scream 3 (2000) – Wes Craven, Ehren Kruger
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- Scream 4 (2011) – Wes Craven, Kevin Williamson
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- Scream (2022) – Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick
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- Scream VI (2023) – Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick
Despite Sidney’s absence in Scream VI, also known as Scream 6, the movie was a huge success, earning nearly $169 million at the box office against an estimated budget of approximately $35 million. Which leads us onto the next question…
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Will there be a Scream 7?
Although Scream 7 seems to be in the works, and the sixth movie went down well with the fans, in the light of the recent firing of Melissa Barrera and dropout of Jenna Ortega – which we discuss here – the future of the franchise has been thrown into jeopardy.
Dexerto spoke with Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin last year, in which they said “We don’t know about a Scream 7 yet, we’d of course love to see a million more Screams.
“We don’t know what’s next, but we hope that the Scream franchise just lives on and on, because it can, because it’s a franchise that reinvents itself every time anyways, so there’s something just built into it that allows it to just continue.”
Alternatively, there could even be an incredibly meta spinoff in the form of a series based on Stab, the fictional in-universe film franchise that follows the “real” killings in the Scream movies.
“We do always joke about a spin-off of the Stab series, that would be really fun for us. We would be [up for it], just call and we’ll do it, it’d be so fun,” explained Bettinelli-Olpin.
Where to watch all Scream movies on streaming
All of the Scream movies except Scream 4 are available to stream on Paramount Plus, while the fourth chapter can be viewed on Max.
For those who aren’t subscribed, you can rent or buy each entry on various VOD platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, which you can sign up for here.
Please note that if you click on a product link on this page, we may earn a small affiliate commission. You can check out some of our other horror hubs below:
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