'Scream' premiere canceled due to COVID and Omicron concerns

Scream will still release in theaters Jan. 14, but it will no longer enjoy its red carpet premiere "due to Covid safety concerns," such outlets as Deadline and Variety reported.

"Given the tidal wave of the omicron variant, the event originally scheduled for Jan. 11 will not proceed, a note to invited guests said on Thursday," Variety relayed. "The premiere was expected to convene horror icons Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette with their supporting cast and filmmaker collective Radio Silence (“Ready or Not”) in Los Angeles."

Scream is the fifth installment of the iconic horror franchise, arriving roughly 25 years after Wes Craven's original Scream film premiered in December 1996 and sparked a worldwide phenomenon. Scream 2 followed in '97, Scream 3 in 2000 and Scream 4 in '11.

Craven directed all four of the previous Scream movies before dying from brain cancer in August 2015. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett directed the new Scream. 

Watch the trailer below.