 like scary movies. Uh-huh. What's your favorite scary movie? I don't know. You have to have a favorite. What comes to mind? Halloween. You know, the one with the guy in the white mask who walks around in stocks babysitters. While making Scream 4 back in 2011, West Craven confirmed that he was contracted to make both Scream 5 and 6 if Scream 4 were to be a hit. Kevin Williamson, the screenwriter for Scream 2 and Scream 4, also revealed that he too was contracted for three films and had concepts for the future films up to Scream 6. Back then, Williamson stated that a Scream 5 would feature characters from Scream 4 and serve as a continuation of that story. But Scream 4 turned out to be the least successful entry in the franchise, failing to crack $100 million worldwide, a feat that the first three films all consistently hit. It didn't even make a profit domestically, so unfortunately plans for a fifth Scream film were put on the back burner. Despite this, for years after Scream 4, rumors of the possibility of Scream 5 were still swirling. However, the largest blow to the franchise occurred on August 30, 2015, when the iconic director West Craven passed away. He had not only spearheaded the historic Scream franchise, but also spawned another horror staple with the long-running Nightmare on Omshree series. I mean, this man freighted Sydney Prescott, Ghost Face, Nancy Thompson, and Freddy Krueger, among so many others. This tragic passing pretty much silenced the talk of a fifth installment of the franchise, and it is truly hard to imagine a Scream film without West Craven at the helm. But the future of the franchise got a lot more hopeful after the 2018 reboot of Halloween at Blumhouse Productions became the highest-grossing film in that franchise, and it even broke the record that the original Scream had held for the highest-grossing slasher film of all time. The success that Laurie Strode and Michael Myers found in this new era led Blumhouse to Greenlight Scream 5 in 2019, hoping to ring in a new era of slashers, the soft reboot era. Because Halloween isn't a full reboot, although it does disregard every film besides the first one, it acts as a sequel to the original film while also introducing the franchise to a whole new audience. Luckily Scream's anthology is not nearly as convoluted as Halloween's, so this Scream film will very likely take place in the same world as the first four, and we are already confirmed to be returning to Woodsboro. This does beg the question though, will this be called Scream 5, or will they try to emulate the success of 2018's Halloween and just call it simply Scream? Honestly, I would be surprised if they ended up calling it Scream 5, I think it is all but confirmed to be called Scream. The problem with calling it Scream 5 is if you're not a diehard Scream fan, you won't want to buy a ticket to this film, thinking you have to catch up on the happenings of the first four films. I would appreciate it having potentially a tagline or something, just because it is a little confusing having two films in a single series having the same name, but I mean Halloween has three movies now that are just called Halloween, so I guess I'll get over it. Let me know in the comments what you would like Scream 5 to be titled, but now let's get into the cast of Scream 5 which has slowly been being revealed for a couple months now. Let's talk legacy characters or major characters from the series that are returning. David Arquette was the first legacy actor to be confirmed for the sequel, reprising his role as Dewey Riley from all four previous films. Soon after Courtney Cox was confirmed to be reprising the legend herself, Gil Weathers. And finally after months of just being in talks, Nev Campbell is returning as Sydney Prescott. Roger L Jackson will also be returning, providing the voice of Ghostface. So our big three are confirmed to be back for the sequel, but there is one other legacy character that has been confirmed, and it's probably not who you would expect. Marley Shelton is reprising her role as Judy Hicks from Scream 4. At first I wasn't sure why this seemingly unremarkable character was being brought back, but the more I think of it, I think it could be really interesting. If you don't recall, Judy Hicks was a deputy next to Dewey in Scream 4 in Woodsboro, and there was this whole awkward scene between Judy and Sydney in the movie where Judy's like, pay Sydney, remember me from high school, and then Sydney clearly doesn't remember her. So maybe there's some deep-rooted jealousy or resentment that Judy has for Sydney, or maybe Judy could actually turn and become Ghostface. Or she's completely innocent and sane and just here for some continuity between the last film and this one, but it could go either way. Obviously the theorizer in my mind kind of takes over every once in a while. It is probably way more likely that she's just still the deputy at Woodsboro and just providing some continuity from the last film to this one. But next, let's run down all the new cast members. Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, who you may know from season two of Netflix's You, Jack Quaid, Dylan Manette from Thirteen Reasons Why, Kyle Galner, Jasmine Brown, Mikey Madison, and Sonia Amar. I'm really intrigued by this cast because it is mostly unknown actors, at least to me. I mean I've seen Jenna Ortega in You and I've heard of Dylan Manette, but the rest I have never heard of and I think that's a good thing. I would be bombarded with comments if I didn't mention the rumor of Selena Gomez potentially being a part of the cast. There has been a lot of speculation about Selena potentially being the opening kill of the movie and the rumor does have some evidence backing it up. Firstly, a handful of Scream 5 cast members all suddenly followed the singer and Courtney Cox even commented on one of her posts stating that she can't wait to meet her and then that comment was deleted. So I think one of two things happened. One, Selena is actually a part of the film and fans caught on really quick and now the studio is making the cast cover their tracks. Or two, the rumor started and the PR team for the film began to take advantage of it to get more people aware of the film. I'm not sure which way this could go but I personally think Selena being a first kill would kind of be predictable, but who knows. I wouldn't hate it by any means but I do think they really need to reinvent the opening kill for this film. But maybe this is the way to do that and I do trust the filmmakers. So let me know what you think about this rumor in the comments. But speaking of the filmmakers, this film will be the first in the franchise that will not be directed by Wes Craven. Instead the film is being helmed by Matt Bedanelli, Open, and Tyler Gillett. This pair notably were the directors of 2019's Ready or Not, which if you haven't seen is a really fun film. It's a comedy horror fusion and is really well done and is a great film to rewatch multiple times. Although it's not quite the scream tone, the balance of comedy and horror is definitely in a similar vein of scream and I'm sure these filmmakers are scream fans so I do trust them to emulate the tone of the film. And I personally think that this duo could be the perfect choice to not only direct a scream film, which like I said is a very specific style and tone, but I also think they can really bring something new and fresh to the series and I'm very excited to see how it turns out. The screenplay will also not be done by Kevin Williamson and it will instead be written by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick. But Kevin Williamson is on as an executive producer and I think he will be certainly nudging the film in the direction he has intended. Guy Busick wrote Ready or Not and James Vanderbilt is known for writing films such as The Amazing Spider-Man and White House Down. In terms of the film's plot, we only have a short synopsis that reads, the film follows the story of a young woman who returns to her old hometown, only to encounter horrific murder cases connected to an infamous masked serial killer. And like I said before, it is confirmed that this small town is Woodsboro. Originally filming for the film was set to begin in May of 2020 with a 2021 release date, but then, you know, that didn't happen. But luckily, Screen 5 was one of the first productions to resume this fall and it's currently being filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina. And there have been a few leaks from the set, just mostly some set photos and I will be doing a quick montage of those set photos right now. Like I said, the film was initially supposed to come out in 2021, but now the film has a release date of January 14th, 2022. So not too far off, I mean, it'll be a year away before we know it. And this hopefully gives the world enough time to recover from this pandemic and we will be able to safely attend a movie theater by that time. So let me know, are you excited for Screen 5? Let me know all of your thoughts in the comments below. Leave this video a like and subscribe for more horror news and content.