When it comes to famous horror movie franchises, few are beloved or as successful as Scream. In January this year, the latest instalment in the long-running IP, Scream (2022), directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, brought in a whopping $140 million at the global box office. And its sequel Scream 6 is already on its way, having wrapped filming in September.
It’s safe to say that everyone is aboard the Ghostface train, and according to the original thriller movie‘s creator, that train has the potential to run indefinitely. In an interview with Collider, Kevin Williamson, who wrote the original Scream movie in 1996, explained how the franchise’s future is seemingly endless thanks to the very nature of the killer Ghostface.
Basically, if you’ve seen a Scream movie, you’d know that unlike other iconic slasher villains such as Jason in Friday the 13th or Michael Myers in Halloween, Ghostface isn’t one single person but is instead more of a symbol that different people with different motives can adopt for their killing spree. And it is this empty identity that makes Scream a franchise that could live forever.
“Now [I do think it can go on]. I’ve been proven wrong repeatedly. Since this last one was such a pleasure… I also think one of the wonderful things about Scream is that there’s a different killer in every film,” he said.
“There’s [Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, or Freddy Krueger]; they don’t go away. And Ghostface changes with every movie, so we have an opportunity to change the motive, change the story, and we can always twist and turn it since it [the original Scream] was always meant to be a game-changer.”
Only time will tell us if Williamson is right. Scream (2022) soft rebooted the franchise, and has been flying high on critical praise and financial success. Scream 6 will be looking to replicate that success come March 31, 2023. Ghostface’s fate rests in fans and the studio’s reactions to that particular action movie.
For more spooky content, here are our guides to the best ghost movies and monster movies of all time.