For the moment, at least, it looked like The Weinstein Company were on the ropes in a big way towards the end of last year, largely due to the financial landmine that was “Nine.” However, they’ve set up a new financing deal and a DVD distribution deal with Sony at the beginning of the year, staved off the wolves, and made some bold acquisitions at Sundance, including the much-anticipated “Blue Valentine.”
But that doesn’t mean that Bob & Harvey are going to turn down a banker. Variety brought the news today that the long-rumored “Scream 4” has been green-lit, with original helmer Wes Craven in the director’s chair, and Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox Arquette and David Arquette all set to return to the series, alongside a yet-to-be-cast group of younger actors. The film will be released on April 12, 2011, over eleven years after the last installment of the franchise was released.
While the original was certainly a breath of fresh air in a tired genre on its release, the sequels were subject to the law of diminishing returns in a big way (a shiny penny for anyone who can recap the plot of “Scream 3” from memory), so we can’t say that we’re particularly excited about this. It’s also important to remember that the traditional target audience for a horror movie – high school and college kids – won’t have much of a connection to the franchise, with it having been away for so long. We’re sure that there’ll be an audience of nostalgic thirtysomethings, but it remains to be seen whether the “Scream” brand has any value for a younger crowd.
While I prefer the second Scream to to the original, Scream 3 was the kind of trilogy capper that actually hurt the series as a whole. On the other hand, Universal did a stunning marketing job of making the desperate, pathetic return of its Fast/Furious cast look like a triumphant family reunion of sorts. A similar hat trick by the Weinstein Company could yield similar results. I still can't believe that it's already been ten years since the series ended. I had just started college…
No Skeet Ulrich?
Yeah, I'm a thirtysomething shamefully and slightly excited by this one – maybe out of sick curiosity? (Ugh, I remember my parents at my age getting shamefully excited about outdated pop culture returns that embarrassed the shit out of me. Now look at me.) But hey, I was in college when the first one came out. I'm the original target audience for this franchise. What can I say?
the plot to scream 3.. hmm.. they're making a movie about Sydney, and Jenny McCarthy gets killed, and Sydney is in hiding somewhere working as a Teen Help Line Operator, and then Dewey is all "Hey Sydney, someone killed Jenny McCarthy, come down here, the nerdy dude from Can't Buy Me Love is a cop now, and he wants to talk to you." and then Courtney Cox is all, "I'm a reporter doing a story on all this and I'm in love with Dewey. I need to find the killer."
and then Sydney is all "Whatever I'm coming out of hiding because I want to find the killer too." and then the killer turns out to be her brother, and Sydney is all "Whoa."
Skeet's dead! They even showed his death scene in the Oscar horror movie montage (a big "wtf?")
Oh right. Show's you how much attention I paid to those films (I sadly saw all 3 in theaters too; dumb ex '90s girlfriend)