When Scream premiered in 1996, its now-iconic opening scene, featuring Drew Barrymore as Casey Becker, sent shockwaves through audiences. The scene immediately set the film apart from other scary movies of the time, and it helped launch it into the stratosphere of the best horror movies ever. However, according to OG Scream cast member Skeet Ulrich, the chilling sequence almost ended production before the film could truly get started.
The Scream legacy star revealed during a panel at MegaCon 2025 (via People) that after the late great director Wes Craven and his team shot Barrymore’s harrowing first scene, Miramax executives panicked and nearly pulled the plug on the entire project. Ulrich recounted:
I don’t know if you know, but we started off shooting the sequence with Drew Barrymore in the beginning of the movie and they finished that sequence and Miramax stopped production. They were like, ‘We don’t wanna make this movie anymore. We don’t know what it is.’
For those unfamiliar, Scream opens with Barrymore’s character answering a mysterious phone call that quickly turns sinister. The scene, which plays out like a mini horror film within the larger story, subverts expectations by killing off what seemed to be the film’s lead actress in the first 15 minutes.
While today it’s considered one of the greatest horror openings of all time, Miramax executives reportedly didn’t understand the film’s tone and structure at first—and it almost cost Scream its future.
According to the Billy actor, it took some quick thinking from Craven and two of the film’s producers to convince the studio to continue. One of the faces behind the Ghost Face killer masks continued:
It took [director Wes Craven] and two of the producers editing the beginning section of the movie together, rushing it to New York from Napa Valley, California, for the [Miramax founders Bob and Harvey Weinstein] to look at it and go, ‘Oh okay, now we get it. Keep going.’
What’s Next For Scream?
Scream 7 is expected to land in theaters on February 27, 2026. While waiting for the franchise’s return, check out our 2025 movie release schedule to see what other upcoming horror movies are headed to a theater near you.
The Craft actor also revealed that the production was only about two weeks into filming when the uncertainty hit. That meant the entire cast—many of whom were relatively unknown at the time—had no idea if the movie they were making would ever see the light of day.
Despite the early hesitation from the studio, Scream went on to become a genre-defining hit, reviving the slasher film and becoming one of the best horror movies of the ’90s and launching one of the greatest horror franchises that is still alive nearly three decades later. The film’s blend of self-aware humor, genuine scares, and brutal kills became its trademark, inspiring six sequels, with the upcoming Scream 7.
Looking back, Ulrich admitted that he and his castmates had no clue they were making something that would resonate for generations. He added:
We were a bunch of kids trying to break into the business in a bigger way, but we were really a bunch of actors who got together and took a chance on a film that even Hollywood didn’t necessarily want to take a chance on.
Now, nearly 30 years later, Scream is still extremely popular, with new installments keeping the Ghostface legacy alive.
And to think—it all could have ended before the first knife was even raised. Those suits didn’t know what they had, good thing they didn’t stop it before it made horror movie history.