When Scream premiered in 1996, its now-iconic opening scene, that includes Drew Barrymore as Casey Becker, despatched shockwaves by audiences. The scene instantly set the movie aside from different scary motion pictures of the time, and it helped launch it into the stratosphere of the greatest horror motion pictures ever. Nevertheless, based on OG Scream forged member Skeet Ulrich, the chilling sequence nearly ended manufacturing earlier than the movie might really get began.
The Scream legacy star revealed throughout a panel at MegaCon 2025 (by way of Individuals) that after the late nice director Wes Craven and his staff shot Barrymore’s harrowing first scene, Miramax executives panicked and almost pulled the plug on your complete challenge. Ulrich recounted:
I do not know if you understand, however we began off capturing the sequence with Drew Barrymore to start with of the film they usually completed that sequence and Miramax stopped manufacturing. They had been like, ‘We do not wanna make this film anymore. We do not know what it’s.’
For these unfamiliar, Scream opens with Barrymore’s character answering a mysterious cellphone name that shortly turns sinister. The scene, which performs out like a mini horror movie inside the bigger story, subverts expectations by killing off what appeared to be the movie’s lead actress within the first quarter-hour.
Whereas at the moment it is thought of one of many best horror openings of all time, Miramax executives reportedly didn’t perceive the movie’s tone and construction at first—and it nearly price Scream its future.
In keeping with the Billy actor, it took some fast pondering from Craven and two of the movie’s producers to persuade the studio to proceed. One of many faces behind the Ghost Face killer masks continued:
It took [director Wes Craven] and two of the producers enhancing the start part of the film collectively, speeding it to New York from Napa Valley, California, for the [Miramax founders Bob and Harvey Weinstein] to have a look at it and go, ‘Oh okay, now we get it. Preserve going.’
What’s Subsequent For Scream?
Scream 7 is anticipated to land in theaters on February 27, 2026. Whereas ready for the franchise’s return, take a look at our 2025 film launch schedule to see what different upcoming horror motion pictures are headed to a theater close to you.
The Craft actor additionally revealed that the manufacturing was solely about two weeks into filming when the uncertainty hit. That meant your complete forged—a lot of whom had been comparatively unknown on the time—had no concept if the film they had been making would ever see the sunshine of day.
Regardless of the early hesitation from the studio, Scream went on to turn into a genre-defining hit, reviving the slasher movie and changing into one of many greatest horror motion pictures of the ’90s and launching one of many best horror franchises that’s nonetheless alive almost three many years later. The movie’s mix of self-aware humor, real scares, and brutal kills turned its trademark, inspiring six sequels, with the upcoming Scream 7.
Wanting again, Ulrich admitted that he and his castmates had no clue they had been making one thing that will resonate for generations. He added:
We had been a bunch of youngsters making an attempt to interrupt into the enterprise in an even bigger manner, however we had been actually a bunch of actors who obtained collectively and took an opportunity on a movie that even Hollywood did not essentially need to take an opportunity on.
Now, almost 30 years later, Scream remains to be extraordinarily common, with new installments protecting the Ghostface legacy alive.
And to assume—all of it might have ended earlier than the primary knife was even raised. These fits didn’t know what they’d, good factor they didn’t cease it earlier than it made horror film historical past.