Scream 7’s Early Rotten Tomatoes Score Matches a 26 Year Low for the Franchise

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The latest installment in the popular horror series, Scream 7, comes out this weekend. The previous two films, released in 2022 and 2023, were both critically acclaimed and financially successful, suggesting a strong revival for the franchise. While Scream 7 is expected to do well in theaters, concerns remain about the movie’s quality. The production faced significant changes and had to abandon its original plan. Unlike some troubled films that manage to succeed despite difficulties, early indications suggest Scream 7 may not be one of those cases.

Currently, Scream 7 has a 43% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 37 critic reviews. This is the lowest score in the Scream series since Scream 3 received a 45% rating. This is a significant drop from the previous two films, Scream (2022) and Scream VI, which were both highly rated with scores of 76% and 77% respectively.

What Critics Are Saying About Scream 7

Although the early reviews for Scream 7 aren’t great, it’s not entirely surprising. The reviews weren’t released until today, February 26th, coinciding with the start of preview screenings. Holding reviews back for this long often suggests the studio is worried about negative buzz hurting ticket sales. While studios sometimes delay reviews to avoid spoilers, it usually indicates they aren’t fully confident in the film’s quality.

There isn’t a general consensus among critics about Scream 7 yet, and early reviews explain why. While some viewers are enjoying it as a typical, passable entry in the series, most agree that the Scream franchise is losing its momentum. Previous Scream films were successful because they cleverly updated and revitalized classic horror tropes. However, Scream 7 takes a less self-aware approach and feels like a standard horror movie, weighed down by repeating old ideas and relying too much on references to earlier films. Some critics feel this is the first time the series has felt truly uninspired.

Right now, there aren’t many reviews for Scream 7. For comparison, Scream 2022 has 300 reviews and Scream VI has 316 on Rotten Tomatoes. We can expect hundreds more Scream 7 reviews to be published, which means the current score is likely to change. While it’s too early to say for sure, the initial reviews suggest Scream 7 probably won’t reach the “Certified Fresh” status, and it may end up being one of the lowest-rated films in the Scream series. The first reviews often give a good idea of the final consensus, and in this case, they aren’t very positive.

It’s still unclear whether recent reactions will affect how well the new Scream 7 movie does in theaters. While early predictions suggested it could break franchise records, those estimates were made before anyone had seen the film. Reviews and what people say about a movie are important, especially for how it performs over time. Scream 7 might still have a strong opening weekend, but negative reactions could shorten its run in theaters. Paramount hopes to make an Scream 8 eventually, but they’ll likely wait to see how Scream 7 performs before making any decisions.

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2026-02-26 19:44