#How Scream 5 could begin shooting this summer

Scream 5 will begin shooting this summer and here are the details

Surprise, Sidney! Scream 5 will likely begin shooting this summer. The franchise’s fifth installment will be directed by Matthew Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett who directed 2019’s Ready or Not. 

The film will not be penned by Kevin Williamson, who wrote three out of the four Scream films. Instead, Williamson will serve as Scream 5‘s executive producer while James Vanderbilt, who wrote 2007’s Zodiac, will pen the script for the sequel.

The original Scream film was released in 1996 and starred Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott, a high school student from the fictional town of Woodsboro, California. When a masked killer deemed Ghostface begins a rampage on the town of Woodsboro and begins stalking Sindy, whose mother was murdered the year prior, old wounds are reopened.

Although the Ghostfaces met their demise at the end of Scream, they’ve returned in the subsequent films to seek revenge on Sidney Prescott.

Besides Campbell, the original Scream featured Courtney Cox and her eventual husband David Arquette as well as Matthew Lillard, Skeet Ulrich, Rose McGowan, and Jamie Kennedy.

Campbell, Cox, Arquette, and Kennedy would go on to appear in Scream 2 while Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, and David Arquette have gone on to appear in the other three sequels.

Here’s everything that we know about Scream 5. 

Who’s signed on for Scream 5?

Currently, David Arquette is the only original Scream cast member to confirm his return for Scream 5. On May 18, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that David Arquette would be reprising his role as Dewey Riley, the sheriff of Woodsboro and husband of reporter Gale Weathers, played by Cox.

In a statement released by Spyglass Media Group, which will be producing Scream 5, along with Paramount Pictures, Arquette expressed his excitement about returning to the world of Scream and honoring the legacy of the franchise’s director Wes Craven, who died in 2015.

“I am thrilled to be playing Dewey again and to reunite with my Scream family, old and new.”

While no details about the plot of Scream 5 have been released yet, we can speculate about the plot based on what we know so far. As we previously reported, in an interview with MovieWeb, Arquette revealed that Dewey and Gale, who got engaged in the franchise’s third installment, had a child in an early draft for Scream 4. While the idea was ultimately scrapped, Dewey and Gale could have children in Scream 5, which will take place 10 years after the events of Scream 4.

However, considering that Dewey, and Gale if Cox chooses to reprise her role, will likely spend a significant amount of screentime running from Ghostface, that doesn’t leave much time for child-rearing. Yet, another question worth considering is whether or not Dewey and Gale’s marriage has lasted these past 10 years. Will life imitate and art, and will Scream 5 find that Dewey and Gale are no longer together? Could more than a decade of emotional distress be enough to break them?

While Arquette is the only one that has currently signed on for Scream 5, Neve Campbell has been approached about reprising her role, while some of the supporting cast, from the original film, has expressed interest in returning, as we also previously reported. While you can’t have a Scream film without Sidney Prescott, I’m not sure how much more she can realistically go through. It’s probably best that the dead stay dead lest the franchise turn into a soap opera.

How will Scream 5 begin filming amid COVID-19?

Last week, Paramount Pictures revealed that principal photography on Scream 5 could begin this summer in Wilmington, North Carolina, with the hope that the film will release in 2021.

However, with North Carolina in Phase 2 of the state’s reopening plan until at least July 17, it’s unclear exactly when Scream 5 will be given the go-ahead to begin filming. When the pandemic restrictions are ultimately lifted, though, the question remains, how can production safely begin? North Carolina could potentially follow protocols similar to those set forth by Los Angeles County.

The guidelines stipulate that all essential cast and crew must pass a health check before being allowed on set, that the wearing of face masks and social distancing must be enforced, personal hygiene must be kept up, and any props and camera equipment must be routinely disinfected.

The biggest issue that it seems could potentially affect the production of Scream 5 is how to keep the cast and crew safe while on location. However, this a problem that could potentially be solved by building structures that could house cast and crew on set to reduce the chance of COVID-19 exposure as Tyler Perry did to resume filming of his shows The Oval and Sistas.

Either way, we’re hopeful that Scream 5 will hit theaters or streaming services in 2021 because these days, you’ve got to have a sequel!

We’ll continue to keep you updated on the latest Scream 5 news.