Summary
- Director Christopher Landon has officially left the troubled production of Scream VII, calling it a “dream job that turned into a nightmare.”
- The firing of Melissa Barrera and subsequent departure of Jenna Ortega indicate that the production is in an even worse state than previously thought.
- The future of Scream VII is uncertain, leaving fans wondering if the franchise will be able to recover from its current state of chaos.
The collapse of Scream VII appears to be complete as director Christopher Landon revealed that he is no longer attached to the movie. In what he called a “dream job that turned into a nightmare,” Landon explained that even though he is only sharing the information now, he actually left the project weeks ago.
The news comes a month after the threads of the horror sequel began to fray with the firing of Melissa Barrera and the subsequent departure of Jenna Ortega. Based on the timeline set out in Landon’s statement, his departure came just after Ortega, suggesting that the production is in a much worse place than anyone believed. In his post on X/Twitter, Landon wrote:
“I guess now is as good a time as any to announce I formally exited Scream 7 weeks ago. This will disappoint some and delight others. It was a dream job that turned into a nightmare. And my heart did break for everyone involved. Everyone. But it’s time to move on. I have nothing more to add to the conversation other than I hope Wes’ legacy thrives and lifts above the din of a divided world. What he and Kevin created is something amazing and I was honored to have even the briefest moment basking in their glow.”
Following the revival of the Scream franchise in 2022, and the success of Scream VI at the beginning of the year, it seemed that the franchise was unstoppable with its new leads and refreshed approach to Ghostface’s killing spree. However, the sequel is now in such a state of chaos that it is questionable whether Scream VII will ever recover.
Related: The Scream Franchise Can Still Be Successful Without Two Lead Stars
How Scream VII Lost Its Way
Paramount Pictures
The Scream franchise had a surprising resurgence in 2022 after a decade-long hiatus. Bringing back original stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette, the belated sequel added a host of new young stars including Jenna Ortega and Melissa Barrera as sisters Tara and Sam Carpenter, and proved that there was life in the old slasher yet.
The sixth installment in the American meta-horror slasher franchise Scream.
Release Date March 10, 2023
Rating R
In January 2023, the franchise continued to evolve, with Scream VI taking Ghostface out of Woodsboro for the first time and relocating the story to New York City. Delivering mostly positive reviews and a strong box office result, Scream VII was soon announced, much to the delight of fans.
However, this November the movie began to fall apart. Following controversy over a series of social media posts relating to the Israel-Hamas war, Melissa Barrera was fired from the movie by Spyglass Media, who issued a statement following a huge amount of backlash against the decision. That statement read:
Spyglass’ stance is unequivocally clear: We have zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form, including false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust distortion or anything that flagrantly crosses the line into hate speech.
Just days later, the movie was hit with another bombshell when it was announced that Jenna Ortega had also left the movie, allegedly due to scheduling conflicts. While some reports have suggested that her departure from the movie was not because of this, but a show of support for Barrera, the fact of the matter is that Scream VII very quickly lost both of its lead stars. The news of Landon’s departure, and the timing of it, does seem to add weight to the belief that Barrera’s sacking was the catalyst for the subsequent falling dominoes, especially considering Landon made it clear at the time that he had no input on the firing decision.
Now it seems that Scream VII has yet another hurdle to overcome if it is to see the light of day and will not be getting the same kind of quick turn around as its predecessor. Thankfully for Scream fans, they can still get their Ghostface fix from the previous movies in the franchise, which are streaming across Max and Paramount+.
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