Things are moving ahead quickly with the next installment in the Scream franchise. The amount of time between announcing that there would be a sixth movie, to hearing that filming would start in June 2022, to now being given a release date – has all been a whirlwind. The six-quel is currently scheduled for March 31, 2023.
While both Courtney Cox and Neve Campbell have confirmed that they’ve been approached about the sixth movie, they are waiting until they’ve read the script before signing on the dotted line. Ever since 5cream made almost $140 million at the box office, the greenlighting of a sixth entry in the self-aware horror franchise was inevitable.
As for what will happen in Scream 6, who’s to say? It seems that the Billy Loomis well has well-and-truly run dry by now, with both his mother and progeny being drafted as either the villain behind the Ghostface mask or as a target for the stab-happy killer. Therefore, the filmmakers might turn to Billy’s woozy partner-in-crime, Stu (Matthew Lillard).
Lillard has expressed an interest in returning to the franchise, and while we last saw Stu with a television set on his head, we all know that the Scream franchise is not adverse to bringing back those who really should be dead by now for one last slash.
Scream 5 was already on its way to tying itself up in meta knots, so maybe Scream 6 will be a return to something simpler and less self-referential? Or maybe it will keep digging through those tropes, until there’s nothing left to satirise? We’ll only find out if we turn up in theatres once again, in March 2023.
If you love a slasher flick, check out our guides to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise and the Halloween movies.