Between Protests And Bad Reviews, ‘Scream 7’ Is Already Looking Like A Disaster
The premiere of Scream 7 in Hollywood unfolded like a chain reaction of unresolved tension. Outside the Paramount lot, a small but determined group of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered with signs and chanted. For what? The blacklisting of an actress over her political speech. Their presence reframing the event, red-carpet reporters turned their questions to the removal of Melissa Barrera from the series.
According to ComicBookMovie, demonstrators were explicitly in support of her, as she was fired in 2023 for pro-Gaza posts that were seen as antisemitic. Barrera’s dismissal didn’t simply spark a political backlash; it overturned the original plans for the sequel now in theaters. Her character was central to the last two installments, and losing her forced a rethink of the whole story.
The studio’s defense that her posts crossed a line did nothing to silence the criticism of an issue that hasn’t faded. The turbulence only deepened when Jenna Ortega followed Barrera’s exile in solidarity, and the director soon stepped away as well – leaving the project without leads or a visible guiding hand.
Neve Campbell entered that vacuum after a departure over pay seemed like a point of no return, and with her came a pivot to legacy characters. Though that was kind of the point of these sequels, her comeback was widely interpreted as a desperate attempt to stabilize an off-the-rails production.
Amidst the chaos and bad PR, the first reviews and critical reception began to trickle out, and they aren’t stellar. The critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes says the sequel is “Less a return to Scream’s roots than a disappointing creative regression, this seventh entry draws little blood with its dull knife of a script.”
The critic score is splattered all over the basement at 33 percent, but the audience score is much more positive at a surprising 78 percent. This is reflected thus far in box office receipts, which are on track to break records for the franchise, according to Deadline.
