How Scream 4 Should Have Ended (And What Came Next)

3. What Went Wrong?

Many, many, many factors contributed to the finished product of Scream 4 not being what Williamson originally intended. Nobody aside from those who worked on the film can tell us exactly what happened, but there is enough information out there that now we can perform a postmortem on the failed reboot.

Very early on in production, entertainment news outlets were reporting troubles on the set. Namely, actors Lake Bell and Lauren Graham both quit within the first week of production. We also know that Courtney Cox and David Arquette’s marriage was falling apart as the film was shooting. Cox cited Arquette’s partying with the younger cast members to be a point of conflict, and shortly after the film wrapped, Arquette went into rehab.

Meanwhile, Dimension studio head Bob Weinstein and Williamson were fighting over the screenplay, with Weinstein demanding changes. Inevitably, because you don’t fight mega producers and win, Williamson was released from his duties and replaced by Ehren Kruger, who had previously replaced Williamson on the third film in the series.

So what did Kruger add to the film? Well, Craven has stated that Kruger reworked the beginning and some dialogue throughout the film, but the most significant change Kruger made was to the film’s ending...