The audience reception to the latest entry in the Scream franchise has not been kind, and to many people, for a good reason. Across online platforms, reviewers of all kinds have had a lot of things to say concerning the movie’s story, which most consider to be the worst out of all the previous films, and its use of AI. That said, the largest part of the controversy has been a topic far removed from the story, and has gone as far back as the film’s initial announcement.
A boycott for Scream 7 began following the firing of Mexican-American actress Melissa Barrera in 2023 due to social media posts surrounding the Israel-Palestine conflict, more specifically, pro-Palestinian posts on her social media. Her firing had the domino effect of popular actress Jenna Ortega pulling out of the production in solidarity with her friend and her beliefs.
The uproar towards this event was significant and soured the already declining reputation of Paramount, which, under the ownership of the son of Oracle founder David Ellison, has pushed out right-leaning content now more favorable under the Trump administration.
Regardless, since the release of Scream 7, many news outlets have begun questioning the success of the boycott. Especially considering the box office records it had managed to break in comparison to the franchise’s previous movies. With a global opener of nearly 100 million worldwide, Scream 7 beat out previous franchise record holder Scream VI, which opened at 44.5 million.
Unfortunately, this is an amount of success that many studios would see as a certified win, no matter how controversial a movie’s production had been. The Scream films have long earned recognition as one of the biggest American horror franchises in the world. The name recognition alone was enough to get audiences into theaters. It’s in a similar vein to the live-action Disney remakes.
For many die-hard fans of Disney, the live-action remakes demonstrate the creative bankruptcy many believe Disney has undergone. Regardless, these movies manage to do extremely well amongst the general audience, whose nostalgia for the company and child audience can largely overlook these discrepancies.
That said, it is still unknown how the film will fare in the weeks going forward. With much of the obligatory viewership from its diehard and casual fans out of the way, it’s hard to say if the film can keep it up, especially with the negative reviews online.
