Scream Movies in Order: Release and Chronological Order

The Scream movies in order of release are seven theatrical films, running from Scream (1996) to Scream 7 (2026), and all seven belong to the same main saga. Each entry below gives the director, the US release date and the runtime, plus a one line setup that stays inside the first act.

1. Scream (1996), directed by Wes Craven, opened in the US on December 20, 1996 and runs 112 minutes. In Woodsboro, California, teenager Casey Becker is home alone when a phone call about scary films becomes a deadly game.
2. Scream 2 (1997), directed by Wes Craven, opened on December 12, 1997 and runs 120 minutes. A Ghostface killer strikes at an early screening of Stab, a movie based on the Woodsboro murders, and the story moves to Windsor College in Ohio.
3. Scream 3 (2000), directed by Wes Craven, opened on February 4, 2000 and runs 116 minutes. A new Ghostface begins murdering the cast of Stab 3 in Hollywood, leaving a photo of Sidney's late mother at each scene.
4. Scream 4 (2011), directed by Wes Craven, opened on April 15, 2011 and runs 111 minutes. Sidney Prescott comes home to promote her self help book in the same week that two local girls are murdered.
5. Scream (2022), directed by Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, opened on January 14, 2022 and runs 114 minutes. Teenager Tara Carpenter survives a Ghostface attack and her estranged sister Sam returns to Woodsboro.
6. Scream VI (2023), directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, opened on March 10, 2023 and runs 123 minutes. The Carpenter sisters have moved to New York City, and a new string of Ghostface attacks targets their circle of friends.
7. Scream 7 (2026), directed by Kevin Williamson, opened on February 27, 2026 and runs 114 minutes. Sidney Prescott, now Sidney Evans, has built a quiet family life, and a new Ghostface starts killing in Woodsboro.

Is there a Scream 5? Yes, although the fifth entry is titled simply Scream (2022). It needs its year to tell it apart from the original, so it appears here as Scream (2022). The sixth film uses the Roman numeral and is written Scream VI, though many people search for it as scream 6.

What comes after the seventh film? Scream 8 is in development at Spyglass, with Lilla and Nora Zuckerman reported as writers, according to TheWrap. Neve Campbell told the AP on November 2, 2026 that she will be in the film, and TheWrap reports that a new director is still to be hired and that no release date exists.

You do not strictly need all six earlier films before Scream 7, but in my opinion the best way to watch is still from the beginning with Scream (1996). That film sets up the core ideas of the saga, a masked killer on the phone, a small town and a heroine in Sidney Prescott, and the later films keep returning to all of them.

Why start at the start? Scream 7 leans on returning faces. Neve Campbell is back as Sidney, Courteney Cox as gale weathers, and Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding as Mindy and Chad Meeks-Martin, so the older films give those scenes their weight. If time is short, I would perhaps watch Scream (1996), Scream (2022) and Scream VI, because that trio introduces most of the people who carry into the newest film. Skipping Scream 3 and Scream 4 is a reasonable trade, though, as it could be argued that you lose some Sidney history rather than anything the later plots depend on.

Are Scream 4 and Scream (2022) connected? Yes, loosely. Both are set in Woodsboro and both bring back Sidney, Gale and dewey scream, but the 2022 film was directed by Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and begins a new generation of victims around sam carpenter scream and tara carpenter. One catch for Sidney fans is that she does not appear in Scream VI, since Campbell left that film over a pay dispute, according to Good Morning America. kirby reed does return there, which is a nice reward for anyone who sat through Scream 4.

The full run takes about 13 and a half hours, roughly a long weekend of evenings with the lights off. Start with Scream (1996) tonight, and if you want to know which entries to rewatch first, check scream movies ranked and then find where to watch scream in your country.