Synopsis

Sidney Prescott has withdrawn from public life while working for a crisis hotline. When actors making Stab 3, a movie based on the earlier Woodsboro murders, begin dying, Sidney travels to Hollywood and reunites with Dewey and Gale. As the production descends into panic, the survivors confront a new Ghostface killer and the secrets surrounding Sidney's family.

Factoids & Trivia

• Scream 3 was released in 2000 and was originally intended to be the final film in the series. The franchise later returned with Scream 4 in 2011.

• Kevin Williamson supplied an outline for the story but could not complete the screenplay because of other commitments. Ehren Kruger wrote the shooting script, which underwent frequent revisions during production.

• The screenplay was changing so rapidly that some pages were reportedly completed on the day scenes were filmed. The ending was also reshot in January 2000.

• The production moved the story away from Woodsboro and into Hollywood after concerns about presenting another school-centered horror story so soon after the 1999 Columbine tragedy.

• The fictional Stab 3 sets recreate locations from the original Scream. The replicas were necessary because the earlier sets had been dismantled after the first film.

• Patrick Dempsey joined the production only one day before shooting began and had one night to learn three dialogue-heavy scenes.

• Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith appear as Jay and Silent Bob in a cameo at the Sunrise Studios lot.

• David Arquette and Courteney Cox met during the first Scream and married shortly before principal photography began on the third film. They shortened their honeymoon to return to the production.

• The film had a reported $40 million budget and earned approximately $162 million worldwide.