“Scream” has always been a classic. When the first movie came out in 1996, the franchise gave life to the slasher genre. Known for its ability to add comedy to horror and acknowledge real life situations, the movies have earned over $1 billion across all seven films over the past 30 years.
“Scream” (1996) received over $173 million worldwide. The trilogy earned $500 million and “Scream 4” grossed $92 million. But, the two most recent movies have seen a revival in popularity. “Scream IV” brought $170 million and “Scream 7” earned $97 million on opening weekend, surpassing the record for highest grossing debut. But, despite the success of the most recent film, there have been mixed reviews.
The film continues the story of the “Scream” (1996) protagonist, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), whom antagonists Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) and Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard) attacked. Macher quickly became popular with the fan base. Fans even went as far as to create theories on whether he was actually dead after Prescott supposedly killed him. But, when the film brought back Macher by having the killer use artificial intelligence (AI) deepfakes of him and other deceased characters such as Prescott’s friend, Dewey Riley (David Arquette) and her half brother, Roman Bridger (Scott Foley), to taunt Sidney, fans hated it, expressing their opinions on Reddit and other social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok.
Audiences viewed bringing back Lillard and Arquette as an opportunity for directors to desperately draw audience members back in after the controversy surrounding Melissa Barrera. Barrera starred as Samantha Carpenter in “Scream” (2022) and “Scream VI,” playing the protagonist after Campbell left the franchise following “Scream 4.” But before “Scream 7” went into production, Barrera was fired from the film because of a political statement she made criticizing Israel for their actions during the Israel-Hamas War.
Production soon fell apart, leading to the departure of her co-star, Jenna Ortega, who played Tara Carpenter in the two previous movies.
After the production fallout, Campbell and Lillard were offered to come back for “Scream 7,” allowing the film to focus on “nostalgia” instead of the storylines regarding the Carpenter sisters. Even though the film was supposed to reflect the old movies, the directors completely blew their chance on creating interesting storylines for the new characters who had weak plotlines and no depth besides their death scenes.
There is even more controversy around the marketing techniques used for the film. One of the reasons the franchise is so likeable is because of the real life problems that are talked about. In “Scream 2,” the film proved how media violence can influence people. “Scream 4” portrayed the greed for fame. “Scream” (2022) gave awareness to cyberbullying and toxic fandom culture, and “Scream 7” showed how the AI takeover has negative impacts on society. But, the advertising for the film is contradictory to the message.
Before “Scream 7” came out on Feb. 27, 2026, one of the main marketing campaigns highlighted their partnership with Meta AI. The goal was to allow fans to put themselves into scenes from the franchise.
“[AI] is the death of civilization,” Lucas Bowen said.
Bowen is a character who fell victim to the AI deepfakes in the movie. Anyone would think that since the directors included this line in the film, that it is the message they are trying to convey to audiences. But, it completely falls flat when they actually use AI to promote the movie.
While this movie broke the record for highest grossing amount on opening weekend and currently has over $100 million in less than a month after the release date, it has also broken the record for the lowest ranked “Scream” movie out of all seven films.
Apart from the rushed and sloppy ending, which includes the AI plot twist, the film did a great job at creating suspense and entertaining Ghostface scenes. This almost made the film feel like one of the original movies. But the flaws made the nostalgia feel fake. Supposedly, AI deepfakes were crucial to the plot of the movie and Prescott’s story, but in reality, it’s just a cheap way to get fans half-interested again after firing Barrera.
