Credit: @screammovies
The Scream movie franchise fans may be excited to learn that a Scream 6 is coming out in 2023. In fact, the sixth movie from the franchise hits theaters on March 10, 2023, which might seem like an odd release date for a horror movie. Perhaps it would make more sense to bring a horror movie to movie theaters closer to October when it’s Halloween and all the horror movies are on everyone’s mind. However, the Scream franchise does what it wants, and we have a few things to share with you about the franchise you might not even realize.
1. The First Scream Broke Records
It was 1996 when the first film was released; we cannot believe it’s been that long. The first movie hit theaters on December 20, 1996, which is further proof you don’t need to release a scary movie around Halloween to have a hit. The movie made history as the highest-grossing horror movie. Not just domestically, either. It earned the title worldwide.
2. Scream Held On to That Title, Too
Well, for 18 years, anyway. When Halloween made yet another movie in 2018, it broke the record and took the title of the highest-grossing scary movie from the Scream franchise. But 18 years of holding on to this is not a bad run. Michael Myers is a hard guy to beat, though.
3. Scream 2 Was Released in Record Time
The second movie from the franchise was released less than a year after the first. It was 51 weeks from the release of the first movie until the release of the second. It was December 12, 1997, when Scream 2 hit theaters. It’s unheard of for a sequel to make it that fast into theaters when the first one was still almost brand-new.
Credit: @screammovies
4. Scream 3 Was a Final Movie
With the success of the first two movies keeping the franchise on a high, the writers and creators of the movie franchise thought to release a third. Scream 3 was released on February 4, 2000. The movie did well, but it was the final in the franchise, and everyone knew that going into it. They were not going to make more. At least 11 years before, they decided to make a fourth movie.
5. The Movie is Based on a True Story
We say this loosely because writer Kevin Williamson didn’t base the movie on a true story as much as he was inspired by one. The tragic story of The Gainesville Ripper and his five victims in 1990 inspired him to write this movie. In only four days, the Gainesville Ripper took the lives of five students at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. It was August 1990 – and the entire area was terrified as body after body was found in a matter of days.
6. Kevin Williamson’s Agent Said the Movie Wouldn’t Sell
When he wrote Scream, his agent told him it wouldn’t go over well. He didn’t think anyone would be interested in buying it when it went for sale. His agent said that the gore and the violence would not go over well, even though he’d included five additional pages for potential sequels.
7. Williamson Did Have to Remove the Gory Scenes
When the unsellable film was sold to Miramax, they did ask that the scenes in which some of the goriest and most horrible murders took place be removed. However, Wes Craven would later sign on to make the movie, which meant more gore would be better. He asked that they bring it back. Though it didn’t make it back into its original manuscript, much of the gore was returned.
Credit: @screammovies
8. Drew Barrymore’s House in the First Movie is Across the Street from Another Famous House
The opening scene of Scream is Drew Barrymore home alone, watching a movie and making popcorn while someone comes to kill her. He calls her first, taunts her, and then she realizes he’s already in the house and ready to take her life. Her house is located in Sonoma County, California, and it’s directly across the street from the house used in the movie Cujo – a Stephen King novel turned into a movie.
9. The High School Setting Was Not Without Opposition
Santa Rosa High School in Sonoma County would be the setting for the fictional high school in the first movie. However, some were against this movie because the town had already faced horrible things. A little girl named Polly Klaas was kidnapped from her own home by a name named Richard Allen Davis. He was drunk when he broke into the home in which Klaas had two of her friends over for a sleepover. He took the little girl two months before her body was discovered. The town didn’t want a horror movie filmed there.
10. The Movies Did Well
The first five Scream Movies had a total budget of around $142 million. The movies brought it more than $744.5 million worldwide, though. This is a significant success, and the films keep coming. Though the original characters did not all come back, there have been some OGs back in action. We don’t know what the sixth film looks like, though.
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