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Topics: Horror, Film and TV, US News, Halloween
Tom Fenton
Actress Neve Campbell has announced that she will not be reprising her role as Sidney Prescott in Scream 6 after 25 years of involvement in the hit horror franchise.
In a statement on Tuesday, she cited a low financial offer as the main reason she declined to appear on the sixth instalment, which is slated for release in 2023.
No figures have been quoted as of yet, but in the statement to Variety, she alludes to an offer that 'does not equate to the value I have brought to the franchise'.
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"As a woman I have had to work extremely hard in my career to establish my value, especially when it comes to Scream," she continued.
"I felt the offer that was presented to me did not equate to the value I have brought to the franchise..It's been a very difficult decision to move on."
"To all my 'Scream' fans, I love you. You've always been so incredibly supportive to me," Campbell's statement concluded. "I'm forever grateful to you and to what this franchise has given me over the past 25 years."
This isn't the first occasion that the 48-year-old has decried the compensation that she received for appearing in a Scream movie.
Regarding Scream 3, which was released back in 2000, the Hollywood star claimed she 'did alright' financially from the film, but that she didn't get the eventual profit share that she was promised.
The horror genre tends to be hamstrung by budget issues, meaning that actors and actresses are generally incentivised by profit shares once the move has been out for a period of time.
However, Campbell suggested that many of the promises made on previous Scream films were never actually kept by the studio and film execs.
“There’s always the promise of the back end,” Campbell told Curtis.
“And then, of course, it’s drowned in publicity and costs and all the reasons they say, ‘Oh, actually no, we didn’t make the amount of money that we’re claiming we made in all the press, so that we don’t have to give you that'."Scream made a triumphant comeback in 2022, leading Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media to green-light another instalment, which has the working title of Scream 6.
The decision from Campbell to walk away from a franchise that is seemingly in a very healthy spot, therefore, speaks to the financial discrepancy between the offer and what the Canadian actress deemed to be a sufficient amount.
This year's Scream film made back around $140 million globally, having only cost $25 million to produce.