New Scream Movie Isn’t Called Scream 5, We Finally Know Why
Scream 5 is just called Scream and now we have a clue why they decided to just name it the same thing as the first movie in the franchise
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More than a decade after our last ill-fated trip to Woodsboro, California, one of the deadliest places in America if this franchise is to be believed, we are heading back for another trip down slasher memory lane. There is another movie in the Scream franchise coming out early next year and instead of calling it Scream 5 because it is the fifth installment, they opted to just name it Scream again. While this may seem like just a lazy way to reboot a franchise, giving it the same name as the original even though it is a totally different movie, there was at least a modicum of thought around it.
In an interview with US Weekly, Kevin Williamson explained why they chose to just stick with the same name as the original movie. Williamson had written the first one, creating the overall story and characters and now he’s on as executive producer. The explanation, I suppose, makes sense in an ease-of-use kind of way, but it sure doesn’t appear like they had lengthy meetings about how to next reboot this fifth movie in the franchise. Here’s what Williamson had to say about the process behind going with the same name as the first movie.
Well, it was always Scream 5 because it’s the fifth one…So I think we just threw that name out, but I don’t think they ever seriously were going to call it a Scream 5. I don’t think anybody wanted to see the number five after something. You’d have to ask them – Paramount or whoever, but I think taking the 5 off and calling it Scream (works) because it’s brand new. There’s the legacy cast, and how they infuse this new world and there’s this whole new generation and a new cast of characters that are extremely fun.
So it would appear the “reasoning” behind sticking with Scream instead of Scream 5 is that they kind of just felt like it and it mostly works, right? Fair enough. There doesn’t always need to be some insanely long process behind coming up with another name for a movie. If the idea that this next movie is mostly acting as a reset for the franchise, a way to bring along another set of characters as they transition away from the original folks, then giving it the same name decades later is fine enough. They aren’t the first movie to roll this way and they certainly won’t be the last.
Where it does get a little confusing in terms of eschewing the Scream 5 title in order to firmly establish it in the proper timeline, is that some of the original cast is back for this reboot/ sequel as well. Neve Campbell will reprise her part of Sydney Prescott who’s been called back to Woodsboro because a copycat Ghostface is back at it again, slashing his/ her way through the teenagers in the town once again. Courtney Cox and David Arquette reprise their roles as Gale Weathers and Dewey Riley respectively. Plus Roger L. Jackson is back to voice the rather iconic Ghostface as well.
Even though it is named the same thing as the original, it sure does look like Scream 5 follows much of the same path as the original set of movies. There’s a killer walking among the folks of Woodsboro who wants nothing more than to pick off unsuspecting folks one by one. The original lent the comedic with the scary and from the looks of the trailer, it looks like they are going that direction once again.
Scream (don’t call me Scream 5) is set to hit theaters next year on January 15th. From the looks of things, it will be a call back to the past while also introducing some more subplots among the group of people still, for some reason, living in this deadly town.
