Radio Silence Won't Return To Direct 'Scream 7' As Christopher Landon Steps In To Helm The Iconic Horror Franchise
"Spyglass is answering the call once more, throwing a new Scream movie into development.
"The company has tapped Christopher Landon — a scary movie stalwart whose credits include the Happy Death Day series as well as body-switching horror-comedy Freaky — to direct the seventh installment of the long-running franchise, multiple sources tell The Hollywood Reporter."
Well well well. The report says that the Radio Silence directing team of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett will stay on as executive producers, so at least they'll be involved in some capacity. Although I would've loved to see that duo finish out their own Scream trilogy, they've put the franchise in about the most capable hands you could ask for in Christopher Landon.
Nice time for this news to drop, by the way:
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Referenced as a prominent part of Landon's filmography is Happy Death Day, which has a sequel and a third movie in development. The initial premise for it was labeled by Deadline as "Scream meets Groundhog Day." And well, yeah, that's pretty spot-on.
Both the OG and Happy Death Day 2U made a killing at the box office for Blumhouse. More important than profits, Landon knows how to take a familiar-seeming type of movie and make it original and fresh. That's what has made Scream endure for so many years. It's unknown if Scream 2022 and Scream VI screenwriters Guy Busick and James Vanderbilt will return for the seventh installment, partially because Landon such an extensive track record as a writer. That includes scribe duties on the Rear Window-esque Disturbia, and four movies in the Paranormal Activity series.
Basically Landon's entire filmography has me intrigued as to what he could do with Scream 7. Incorporating tense, found-footage-style bits into the narrative could be an interesting twist that we haven't seen in a Ghostface flick before. Then of course, Disturbia is filled with voyeuristic paranoia that could lend itself well to the story's protagonists — or give us more of a palm-sweating killer POV than we've ever had before.
Landon had to really stretch himself to come up with increasingly elaborate ways for the main character to keep dying on loop in Happy Death Day, which also brings about excitement as far as the types of gory slayings he'll have in store for the Ghostface slasher. Then of course scenes at school are a big part of the Scream lore. Again, Landon has that covered from the two Death Day efforts and Freaky.
I mean this is like straight outta Scream:
The big story point everyone will be wondering about is Neve Campbell's Sidney Prescott. A pay dispute kept her out of Scream VI, and although that movie didn't suffer much from her absence, it'd be a tad conspicuous if Sidney was sidelined again. Lo and behold, the actors are on strike. Kind of vindicates Campbell's stance. Let's face it, she deserves way more than she's probably made given how much her presence has meant since Scream began. I hope they bring her back and give her more of a proper sendoff.
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Regardless of Sidney's involvement, I swear I'm not just simping for Landon when I say I'm optimistic about what Scream 7 could be under his direction. He's got an excellent ensemble of actors to work with, two successful movies to give him momentum, and the perfect skill set to pick up the baton. As audiences have made it clear they're not as into Marvel, Star Wars, or even Indiana Jones right now, the Scream franchise just keeps chugging along and is stronger than ever. Now please, let the strikes be resolved soon so we can get the cameras rolling!
Twitter @MattFitz_gerald/TikTok
More on Scream VI if you're interested — a TikTok-style recap and a deep-dive blog review: