How does a 16-year-old—whose mother’s infidelity became the spark that lit a lifetime of blood-soaked copycats—ever learn to trust the world long enough to build something safe?

A marriage. A home. A daughter. A second toddler… At this climate?

For most horror characters, a “happy ending” is a punchline. For Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), it’s a provocation—and Scream 7 is finally treating it like the main event when it opens February 27.

Sidney doesn’t just survive—she parents

Paramount’s featurette “Sidney’s Journey” frames Sidney as what she’s always been, but through the one lens the franchise has only grazed until now: motherhood.

Kevin Williamson puts the central question in blunt, adult language:

“Sidney Prescott has always been the heart and soul of Scream. And we get to see her in a way we haven’t seen her before as a mother. Sidney’s been through hell and back. She’s been attacked and she’s been pursued by a series of killers throughout her entire life. And how does that affect her mothering her child?”

The marketing underlines the “upgrade” with intention: Sidney Prescott is now Sidney Evans, wife of Mark Evans (Joel McHale), mother of Tatum (Isabel May) and at least another child.

And the name change isn’t trivia. It’s a thesis statement. Prescott is the surname horror kept trying to turn into a headstone. Evans is Sidney choosing a future anyway.

The fear isn’t dying—it’s passing it on

Neve’s quote, during Meta’s event last night, lands because it’s not “legacy talk.” It’s the psychology of a survivor trying not to export damage:

“I think it would have been certainly more challenging for me to play this role had I not been a mother. And again, it doesn’t take much to imagine what that would feel like. You know, Sidney, she’s been through so much. It took great courage for her to even decide to have a family, you know, considering her past. She would have had to do a lot of sort of deep diving and thinking about it. And, you know, she finally, obviously, decided to, instead of letting her past dictate her future, she decided to go forward and have courage in that way. And her biggest fear is that her daughter will have to endure anything that she’s had to endure. And then, of course, it’s Scream, so that happens.”

Then the film twists the knife with the most Sidney line imaginable:

“Me protecting her from this? I made her vulnerable to it.”

That’s the generational pivot: Sidney’s “final girl” survival language stops being private. It becomes family culture—and that’s where Scream 7 can get nasty in the smart way. Because if you raise a kid to be fearless, are you building strength… or normalizing danger?

Kalshi: survival as a scoreboard

So yes—Kalshi showing up in a Scream campaign makes a sick kind of sense.

Kalshi is a U.S. predictive markets platform, and the promo leans into the most Scream instinct possible: turning a slasher into a spreadsheet. The hook is simple and vicious: Scream 7 characters, with “odds” attached to their chances of surviving the movie.

It’s franchise marketing in its purest form: audiences turning death into math. And amid it, the most human image still cuts hardest—Sidney comforting her daughter, like the series is quietly admitting the only counter-spell it trusts is love.

And speaking of odds…

Deadline reports that Scream 7 has hit domestic tracking with a mid–$30M opening projected for February 27—which, if it holds, would make it the franchise’s second-biggest U.S. debut, behind only Scream VI’s $44.4M record start (the one supercharged by the Jenna Ortega/Wednesday moment). The piece also notes the movie is currently testing especially well with the 17–34 crowd and multicultural audiences, showing strength in definite interest and first choice—with the real demand check coming once advance tickets go live after the pre-game Super Bowl spot.

Meta Q&A

The Scream 7 x Meta Creator Event put Williamson, Campbell, and May in the same room—and the vibe sold the relationship as much as the footage did.

Neve, openly proud:

“I can’t wait for you guys to see what this girl can do.”

Isabel May, nailing what makes Scream work:

“Oh, it’s surreal. I’m gonna admit, I haven’t seen Scream before I got involved in this. I know. I’m so ashamed of it. And then, obviously, I did my homework and I devoured it. And because I’m so squeamish, I was scared to watch it initially. And I thought, it’s just gonna be blood and guts and horror. And then it was funny, and it was emotional, and Tatum Riley (Rose McGowan), oh my God, I feel so honored to be named after her, you know? What a cool chick. So I just, yeah, anyway, I’m just thrilled to be here, obviously, and to work with them and to work with Kevin is pretty incredible.”

Meta.AI prompt: “step into the scene, reveal your fate”

Then the activation turns the audience into potential victims:

Open the Meta AI app → Tap the Scream prompt → Take a selfie → Reveal your fate.

That’s funny marketing—and also the theme: everyone wants into the movie… until the movie looks back.