While her sense of humour is perhaps not the first thing that comes to mind when most of us think of Anna Wintour, she certainly managed to raise a smile while presenting at the 2026 Oscars.

Early on in Sunday night’s ceremony, the long-time Vogue editor came on stage to present two awards with Anne Hathaway.

Anne, of course, is the star of The Devil Wears Prada and its upcoming sequel, both of which feature the character Miranda Priestly, heavily rumoured to have been inspired by Anna.

Introducing the Best Costume Design prize, the Oscar winner told the audience: “A character’s costume is key to telling a story.

“One could argue that one’s wardrobe in real life is also key. Does it make one appear elegant and attractive on, say, the most important night in Hollywood, and say when the most important people in fashion will be judging how one looks?”

Turning to her co-host, she continued: “Anna, just curious, what do you think of my dress tonight?”

By way of response, Anna simply donned her sunglasses and declared: “And the nominees are…”

Following this, the duo then announced the winners for Best Makeup And Hairstyling, with Anna intentionally misnaming her co-presenter “Emily” in an even more explicit nod to The Devil Wears Prada.

In the original Devil Wears Prada film and the new follow-up, Meryl Streep plays Miranda Priestly, the editor of the fictitious Runway magazine, whose look and mannerisms have sparked comparisons with Anna Wintour for two decades now.

Last year, the award-winning journalist and Met Gala organised claimed: “I went to the [Devil Wears Prada] premiere wearing Prada, completely having no idea what the film was going to be about.

“I think that the fashion industry was very sweetly concerned for me about the film that it was gonna paint me in some kind of difficult light.”

Praising Meryl’s “fantastic” work in the movie, she then insisted: “I found [the film] highly enjoyable and very funny. It had a lot of humour to it, it had a lot of wit.

“I mean, [the actors are] all amazing. And in the end, I thought it was a fair shot.”

Take a look at the full list of winners from the 2026 Oscars here.

Before the weekend, there had only ever been six ties at the Oscars.

However, on Sunday night, movie history was made when a seventh occurred.

During this year’s ceremony, Marvel star Kumail Nanjiani was welcomed to the stage to announce the winner in the Best Live Action Short category.

After opening the envelope, he revealed that two of the nominees had received the same number of votes from Academy members, meaning they’d each be awarded an Oscar.

“It’s a tie!” he exclaimed, before assuring the audience: “I’m not joking! It’s actually a tie, so everyone calm down!”

He then explained that he’d be announcing the winners one at a time, first welcoming the producers of The Singers to the stage before the crew behind Two People Exchanging Saliva collected theirs.

Uncomfortably, during the latter, the Oscars team attempted to cut the team’s acceptance speech short, before the night’s host Conan O’Brien then encouraged them to continue.

The Oscars’ most famous tie came in 1969, when screen icon Katharine Hepburn and then-newcomer Barbra Streisand split the win for Best Actress for their performances in The Lion In Winter and Funny Girl.

Back in 1932, the first tie at the Oscars came during the awards show’s fifth year, when Fredric March and Wallace Beery were both named Best Actor.

Technically, the former had received one more vote than the latter, but at this time, a rule was in place meaning that anyone within three votes of the winner would also receive an award.

So Much For So Little and A Chance To Live then split Best Documentary Short in 1950, while a similar draw occurred 37 years later when the features Artie Shaw: Time Is All You’ve Got and Down And Out In America got the same number of votes in the Best Documentary Feature category.

Trevor and Franz Kafka’s It’s A Wonderful Life were the two winners in the Best Live-Action Short category in the mid-1990s, while the latest tie was just over a decade ago, in 2013, with Zero Dark Thirty and Skyfall winning Best Sound Editing.

Check out the full list of winners from the 2026 Oscars here.

Amy Madigan has gone and done the unthinkable – and actually won an Oscar for a horror movie performance.

The veteran actor well and truly stole the show in the 2025 horror film Weapons, creating an iconic and deeply sinister character in Aunt Gladys and inspiring no end of Halloween costumes in the process.

Following an awards season that’s seen Best Supporting Actress prizes going out in a variety of directions, Amy came out on top during Sunday night’s Oscars – joining a rare group of actors including Anthony Hopkins, Ruth Gordon and Kathy Bates who’ve picked up Academy Awards for their horror characters.

In the past, the Academy has been notoriously reluctant to recognise horror performances, with many undeservedly losing out on the night – and others failing to secure a nomination at all.

As we celebrate Amy’s success, here are 13 more performances that deserved more love from the Oscars…

From the moment we first heard about Demi Moore’s performance in the graphic body horror The Substance, we were already intrigued, and when it finally hit cinemas last year, we couldn’t shout loud enough about how good she was in it.

Over 2025′s awards season, Demi won a Golden Globe, Actor Award and Critics’ Choice Award for her work in The Substance, before finally securing her first Oscar nomination more than 40 years into her career.

In the end, Demi’s work wound up being added to the long list of incredible performances that deserved an Oscar only to miss out – but there’s no question that her nomination marked a huge win for horror recognition at the Oscars.

This is the Oscars snub that horror fans will be banging on about for eternity – and with good reason.

Ari Aster’s first ever feature film Hereditary takes you on a truly wild ride (we’re still recovering from it seven years later, to be honest with you), and at the centre of it all is Toni Collette’s unbelievable performance.

With her role as tortured matriarch Annie Graham, she brings the deeply unsettling story to life, and showcases her unparalleled versatility as an actor with a performance that takes her character through every emotion under the sun, from unsettled to heartbroken to terrified to furious. And let’s not even talk about that iconic dinner party scene.

Frankly, Toni has been snubbed at the Oscars too many times to count at this point – but it’s interesting that her only nomination to date was actually for her performance in a horror film, when she was recognised for her work in The Sixth Sense.

Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall’s work in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining might now be widely considered two of the finest and most unnerving performances in horror history, but they weren’t so well-received at the time.

Though the reception to the Stephen King adaptation grew warmer as the years went on, critics were pretty lukewarm on it at the time, with Shelley even earning a Worst Actress nomination at the Razzies following its release.

In 2022, this was finally rescinded by the Razzies, who apologised publicly to Shelley Duvall, after learning of director Kubrick’s alleged treatment towards her on set.

There are a few things we think of when someone mentions Psycho. Those infamous high-pitched strings during the iconic shower sequence. The image of the Bates Motel looming in the distance. And, of course, Anthony Perkins’ unsettling portrayal of serial killer Norman Bates.

While Psycho itself was nominated for a string of Oscars the year after its release – including an acting nod for Janet Leigh and Best Director recognition for Alfred Hitchcock – curiously, Anthony Perkins did not make the shortlist for his work in Psycho, despite his portrayal of the slowly unravelling Norman Bates playing such a part in what makes the movie so gripping.

Daniel Kaluuya managed a rare feat for the lead in a horror film in 2017 and actually got nominated for an Oscar, which is a testament to the strength of both his performance and the strength of Get Out in general.

But despite getting awards love from the Golden Globes, Baftas, SAG Awards and Academy Awards, none of these translated to a win.

Absolutely no offence to Gary Oldman, or his performance as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour, but as the years go on, it’s becoming clearer which performance is most likely to stand the test of time…

Daniel did eventually pick up an Oscar of his own just three years later, though, thanks to his work in Judas And The Black Messiah.

Like Daniel, both Sissy Spacek and her on-screen mum Piper Laurie were both nominated for Oscars for their work in the horror classic Carrie.

Neither of their nominations transferred into a win, but there’s no denying that with her performance, Sissy created an iconic movie character for the ages that we’re still talking about 50 years after the film’s original release.

We’ve already touched on Toni Collette’s much-lauded performance in Hereditary, but there’s another female lead in an Ari Aster project that deserves to be shouted about, too.

In fact, Florence Pugh’s Midsommar performance could well be considered the “yin” to Toni in Hereditary’s “yang”. Both films centre around women who suffer traumatic life events, and struggle to cope as the world around them becomes increasingly more unsettling, although while the latter is shrouded in darkness and shadow, the former takes place in broad sunshine, making the unfolding horror all the more jarring.

The year after Midsommar, Florence did score an Oscar nomination for her performance in Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, which probably scuppered her chances of a Best Actress nod for the horror film, which is a bit of a shame, as her emotionally-charged work in Ari Aster’s film was every bit as deserving, if not more.

Often cited as one of the best horror films of all time, Rosemary’s Baby landed two Oscar nominations following its release, including a Best Supporting Actress win for Ruth Gordon.

But given everything she had to do in the title role, it feels a little surprising in the present day that the Academy would go as far as celebrating Rosemary’s Baby back in 1969, without actually giving its leading star Mia Farrow a nomination.

By the time Jordan Peele’s follow-up to Get Out came along, the world was ready for more from the Oscar-winning screenwriter, particularly as Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o was on double duty playing two halves of the same whole.

Now, we appreciate that audiences and critics didn’t quite take to Us in the same way they did to Get Out, but we stand by it being an excellent film, and for everything Lupita was able to do with two completely opposing characters, we still think it’s a shame she never secured her second Oscar nomination for it.

Interestingly, her peers in the Screen Actors’ Guild did nominate for her performance that year, though the Best Actress title would ultimately end up going to Renée Zellweger for Judy, as did the Oscar.

Say what you want about Heretic (to be honest, we still think of it as one of our biggest cinema disappointments of 2024, after a trailer that promised so much), but there’s no arguing with Hugh Grant’s transformative performance as the chilling Mr Reed, putting his charm to work in ways we never saw in his many rom-coms of yore.

While Hugh did secure recognition at the Baftas and Golden Globes earlier this year, that Best Actor category was especially stacked in 2025, meaning plenty of deserving actors missed out on a place, including the former Love Actually star.

The Fly may have won an Oscar in the Best Makeup category back in 1987 (which, interestingly enough, was fellow sci-fi body horror The Substance’s only win in 2025), but its Saturn Award-winning lead performance from Jeff Goldblum did not transfer to an Oscar nomination.

We get it, a film about a half-man, half-fly was always going to be a hard sell to the Academy, but Jeff’s performance is still being talked about almost 40 years later.

Despite his expansive career, the Wicked star has, in fact, never been nominated for an Oscar for acting, although he was nominated as the director of the short film Little Surprises in the mid-1990s.

It’s been seven years, and we’re still not sure we understand exactly what went on in Luca Guadagnino’s remake of Suspiria. But what we do remember is that Tilda Swinton played about 20 different characters, disappearing into each role as flawlessly as you’d expect, and received absolutely zip the following awards season.

Despite four Golden Globe nods and three from the Baftas, Tilda has just one Oscar nomination to her name, which was the same year she won for Michael Clayton.

Every year, the Oscars ceremony features some of our favourite film stars, directors, writers and even musicians accepting one of the most prestigious cinema awards there is in front of their peers.

The 2025 Academy Awards gave us first-time victories for stars like Kieran Culkin, Zoe Saldaña, Mikey Madison and filmmaker Sean Baker – but sadly, there’s only space for one winner per category each year, meaning there are still many deserving actors who’ve missed out, time and time again.

Here are 25 of the Hollywood stars still working today who, somehow, still have an Oscar-shaped space on their mantelpiece…

Considered by many to be “the new Leonardo DiCaprio” when it comes to the Oscars, Amy Adams has been nominated for six Academy Awards, most recently in 2019, only to leave empty-handed every year.

The good news for Amy is that Leo got his win on his sixth nomination, so if she really is following in his footsteps, she shouldn’t have to wait too much longer.

Glenn Close holds the dubious distinction of being the living actor who has the most Oscar nominations without a win.

As of 2026, the esteemed performer has been nominated for an Academy Award a whopping eight times, but has never come out on top.

Her most recent nomination came in 2021, with a nod in the Best Supporting Actress category for her performance in the divisive Netflix offering Hillbilly Elegy – a role that also landed the Fatal Attraction star a Razzie nomination for Worst Supporting Actress.

Despite more than 50 years (!!!) in the entertainment industry, Samuel L Jackson has landed just one Oscar nomination in his career.

Back in 1994, he was on the Best Supporting Actor shortlist for playing Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction. He lost out to Martin Landau on the night, and hasn’t been nominated again since.

However, it’s worth pointing out that he did win an Honorary Academy Award in 2021, after being recognised as a “cultural icon whose dynamic work has resonated across genres and generations and audiences worldwide”.

Between acting, directing, producing and screenwriting, Bradley Cooper has scored a whopping 12 Oscar nominations – including two as recently as 2024 for his work on the film Maestro.

When it comes to just his on-screen performances, he’s been recognised for his roles in American Hustle, American Sniper, A Star Is Born and the aforementioned Leonard Bernstein biopic.

Lost In Translation star Scarlett Johansson is similarly yet to be awarded by the Motion Picture Academy, although she does have two Oscar nominations to her name – both of which came in the same year.

In 2020, Scarlett was nominated in both the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress categories for her roles in Marriage Story and Jojo Rabbit.

She was pipped to the win by Renée Zellweger and Laura Dern, respectively.

As if the fact Angela Bassett has never won an Oscar isn’t galling enough – she’d actually only been nominated once until 2023.

Her first nomination came in 1993, following her portrayal of Tina Turner in the biopic What’s Love Got To Do With It?.

Three decades later, she made history when she became the first star to receive an Oscar nomination for a performance in a Marvel film.

Sadly, though, this resulted in a second loss, although she did pick up an honorary Oscar in 2025.

Timothée Chalamet has made no secret of his hopes to one day win an Oscar – or his disappointment at the award having eluded him so far in his career.

Over the last decade, he’s scored three acting nods, first for Call Me By Your Name and later for the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown.

It looks like this year could be his, though, following wins at the Golden Globes and Critics’ Choice Awards for his work in Marty Supreme.

Jake Gyllenhaal is another A-list actor you might be surprised to hear has been given only a small amount of love by the Oscars.

In fact, it’s been over 20 years since Jake last bagged an Academy Award nomination, earning his first and only nod for his supporting role in Brokeback Mountain.

The Oscars’ lack of recognition for David Oyelowo’s performance as Martin Luther King Jr Selma is one of the biggest snubs in recent history, sparking a major backlash at the time.

Despite a number of critically-acclaimed performances to his name, the British star is yet to be nominated for an Academy Award. Seriously, Oscars. Sort. It. Out.

Off the top of our head, we can probably come up with six or seven Toni Collette performances that would have been deserving an Oscar win – and yet, the Australian star has just one nomination under her belt (for The Sixth Sense, if you’re wondering).

As one of the most versatile actors in the game, we’re confident that Toni’s time is coming… and when it does, it will be long overdue.

Will we ever be over her not even being nominated for Hereditary? Probs not, no.

He might have Oliviers coming out of his ears (seven in total, at the time of writing), but Sir Ian McKellen is yet to be awarded the biggest honour in the film industry.

The British acting legend does have two Oscar nominations, but neither of them translated to a win. He hasn’t fared any better on his home soil, either, with neither of his four previous Bafta nominations resulting in him taking home an award.

Roles in acclaimed films like Dreamgirls and Cadillac Records led many fans to think that Beyoncé was setting her sights on Oscars glory.

Although neither ended in so much as a nomination, when she signed up to voice Nala in The Lion King (contributing a new song to the beloved soundtrack), it was thought she might get her win in the form of a Best Original Song victory. Sadly, this didn’t end up landing her a nomination, either, though she was later recognised in this category for her work on the film King Richard.

We reckon she probably doesn’t need to lose sleep about that, though, as she has since become the most-awarded person in Grammys history.

Like many musicians before her, Dolly Parton has made the transition into acting with roles in films like The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and, of course, 9 To 5.

While the Academy never recognised Dolly’s acting (even if the Golden Globes did!), she does have two Best Original Song nominations to her name.

In recent years, Dolly has continued contributing new music to films like Dumplin’ and the Netflix festive film Christmas On The Square, though, so a win could well be on the horizon if she keeps it up.

Since 2006, Michelle Williams has earned Oscar nominations for her performances in Brokeback Mountain, Blue Valentine, My Week With Marilyn, Manchester By The Sea and, more recently, The Fabelmans.

In 2019, she did win an Emmy on her first nomination for Fosse/Verdon, so we reckon it won’t be long until the Academy catches up.

In a career spanning more than three decades, Michelle Pfeiffer has been nominated for an Oscar on three different occasions, but so far, the Academy Award has always passed her by.

Sadly, none of these nominations were for Grease 2, which we can only describe as a huge oversight.

Tom Cruise has been nominated for four Oscars over the course of his career (although it has been more than two decades since his last acting nod), but he’s never come out on top in his category.

In 2023, he picked up his fourth nomination for his work producing the Top Gear sequel, though regrettably he failed to land any nods for his acting performance.

Sigourney Weaver has racked up three nominations over the years but sadly, the win has eluded her each time.

At the 1989 ceremony, she was up for both the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress prizes, but lost out to Jodie Foster and Geena Davis, respectively.

“Is this the year Michael Keaton finally wins his Oscar?” Vanity Fair asked, hopefully, in 2016.

Sadly, it was not – and, in fact, he didn’t even score a nomination for the movie sparking the question, The Founder.

His 2014 nomination, earned for his star turn in Birdman, remains Michael’s only Oscar-nominated role.

Annette Bening’s performances in The Kids Are Alright, Being Julia, American Beauty and The Grifters have all made the Academy’s shortlist in the past – but she was pipped to the post each time.

Her work is still getting her a lot of recognition, though, with a nomination as recently as 2024 for her work in the film Nyad, so a future Oscar win is definitely not out of the question for Annette.

The British star is known for her quirky and offbeat roles, but despite Helena Bonham Carter’s bold choices when it comes to acting, the Academy is yet to reward her efforts with a win.

She does have two nominations, though, for The Wings Of The Dove and The King’s Speech.

Over the last few years, Hugh Jackman has been at the centre of Oscar buzz for films like The Front Runner, Bad Education and even The Greatest Showman, although none of them led to an actual nomination.

In 2026, his Song Sung Blue co-star Kate Hudson is in the running for Best Actress, marking the film’s only Academy Award nomination.

The Australian star did receive a nod back once, though, following his leading performance in Les Misérables in 2013.

We’re, frankly, still raging about the complete snub that occurred in 2017, when Taraji P Henson was missing from the Best Actress category.

The Hidden Figures star does have one previous Oscar nomination under her belt, thanks to her role in The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button.

For those not familiar with Diane Warren, she’s the songwriter behind hit movie soundtrack tunes like Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now, There You’ll Be and I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing.

Remarkably, she’s now been nominated for an Oscar 17 times without a win – and true to form, she’s in the running in 2026, too.

Diane did pick up an honorary Oscar in 2022, but we’re pretty confident she’ll be attaching herself to film soundtracks for years to come until she gets her hands on a competitive trophy.

It was more than 40 years into Demi Moore’s on-screen career that she even landed her first Oscar, thanks to her performance in the body horror movie The Substance (a rare feat for a horror movie to be recognised by the Academy at all!).

Heading into the 2025 ceremony, it looked like it could have been Demi’s year, after she pretty much cleaned up at every preceding awards show. Though this proved not to be the case, she’s still credited with majorly opening the door when it came recognition for horror performances, which have traditionally been overlooked at the Oscars.

A year later, for example, Amy Madigan landed the second nomination of her career for her work as the iconic Aunt Gladys in Weapons.

HuffPost favourite John Travolta has become something of an Oscars staple in recent years, thanks to iconic moments like his “Adele Dazeem” gaffe, his after-party dance-off with Lady Gaga, his awkward red carpet posing with Scarlett Johansson and the fact he was the one to give Will Smith his award after the slap seen around the world.

John does have two Oscar nominations of his own, one for Saturday Night Fever and a second for Pulp Fiction, although neither ended up in a win for him.

But while he may not have any trophies to show for it, we’d still argue the Oscars are nothing without Mr Travolta…

Ben Stiller has slammed the Donald Trump administration for using footage from one of his films in what he described as the US leader’s “propaganda machine”.

Last week, the official White House TikTok page shared a provocative montage titled “justice the American way”, which included short clips of hit movies like Iron Man, Top Gun, Braveheart and Gladiator.

The clip also included shots from Tropic Thunder, a satirical action comedy that Ben starred in alongside Robert Downey Jr, Jack Black and Tom Cruise almost 20 years ago.

Reacting to the clip on Friday night, the Severance director wrote on X: “Hey White House, please remove the Tropic Thunder clip. We never gave you permission and have no interest in being a part of your propaganda machine.”

“War is not a movie,” the Emmy winner added.

Ben is far from the only public figure upset by the White House’s social media output in recent history.

Just last week, the Grammy-nominated musician Kesha fired back at the Trump administration over a similar video using one of her songs.

“It’s come to my attention that The White House has used one of my songs on TikTok to incite violence and threaten war,” she told her followers.

“Trying to make light of war is disgusting and inhumane. I absolutely do not approve of my music being used to promote violence of any kind.”

Steven Cheung, the White House’s director of communications, wrote back on his own X account: “All these ‘singers’ keep falling for this. This just gives us more attention and more view counts to our videos because people want to see what they’re bitching about.”

Days earlier, Radiohead had taken issue with the White House after ICE agents used a choral cover of the group’s song Let Down in a social media video.

Last year, Sabrina Carpenter was also upset to find her music being used in social media posts by the administration, firing back: “This video is evil and disgusting. Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda.”

One final chapter in the Game Of Thrones saga is coming to our screens – this time in the form of a feature-length film.

Almost seven years on from one of the most polarising finales in TV history, screenwriter Beau Willimon – best known for his work on House Of Cards and the Star Wars off-shoot Andor – is said to be writing the script for a new movie version of Game Of Thrones.

The news was first reported by Page Six, and later confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter.

Game Of Thrones came to an end in 2019, with a dramatic turn of events that saw Jon Snow offing Daenerys Targaryen, and Sansa Stark ending up on the Iron Throne.

While the last episodes of Game Of Thrones weren’t exactly well-received by fans at the time, that certainly hasn’t stopped the Westeros universe from expanding in the years since.

The popular prequel series House Of The Dragon, set two centuries before the events of Game Of Thrones, is expected to air its third season next year, with James Norton and Tom Cullen among those joining regulars Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy, Olivia Cooke and Rhys Ifans. A fourth has already been commissioned by US broadcaster HBO.

Meanwhile, a spin-off of a very different nature premiered earlier this year, in the form of A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms, based on Game Of Thrones author Tales Of Dunk And Egg books.

The series was notable in that it vastly differed tonally from other adaptations set in the Game Of Thrones universe, with much more emphasis on comedy than fans are probably used to – which split critics down the middle.

A spin-off centred around the hero Jon Snow was also heavily rumoured to be in the works, but this project was eventually shelved when Kit Harington pulled out.

Game Of Thrones, House Of The Dragon and A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms are all streaming on Now and Sky in the UK.

The Scream franchise has been dealt another blow as the latest instalment hits cinemas.

Scream 7’s roll-out has been especially rocky, largely due to the early firing of Melissa Barrera following a string of comments against Israel and in support of Palestine against the backdrop of the conflict in Gaza, followed by the departures of Jenna Ortega and the film’s original director.

Because of this, many have called for a boycott of the movie, and with the reviews for part seven having now been published, producers have even more problems on their hands.

Separate from the controversy, the film has been almost unanimously criticised in initial reviews, with even the most positive capping at three stars, and the most unimpressed slamming the film for being uninspired and derivative compared to the series’ most popular outings.

Scream 7 also has the unenviable record of holding the lowest critical score of the whole franchise on Rotten Tomatoes at 37%, while its Letterboxd score sits at a lowly 2.6 stars at the time of writing.

Here’s a round-up of what critics are saying about Scream 7…

“The overfamiliarity would be more palatable if the dialogue were as fresh and funny as it was in the early instalments, or if the kills were more creatively staged. But there’s a rote quality to the proceedings that makes Scream 7 feel like a slog despite its high body count and copious gore.”

“Scream 7 is a bland and rote bum note, a last-minute patch-up job that was apparently necessitated by the untimely departure of several personnel who made the very successful and quite brilliant Scream 6 […] It’s as if nobody realised that a Scream movie without the irony is just a bad horror movie.”

“[Director Kevin] Williamson has gone back to basics, but the result is a Scream sequel that, while it nods in the direction of being seductively convoluted, is really just…basic.”

“Scream 7, directed by original scribe Kevin Williamson (who also wrote the second and fourth movies), at times comes dangerously close to forgetting just what it is that the fans of the ‘Stab’/Scream franchise want.”

“Genuinely inept in every way, Scream 7 is far and away the worst of the franchise, a shallow rendering of things that worked better in other films.”

“Nostalgia, in the end, isn’t this sequel’s theme but its shield. It doesn’t erase the franchise’s highs, but nevertheless stains the canon with a fraught production nightmare that will be remembered as unnecessary.

“Horror can’t work without bravery, on and off screen. But Scream 7 mistook safety for survival, and in doing so, coughed up the least dangerous Ghostface yet.”

“Please put the Scream franchise out of its misery. [Scream 7] is the worst one yet. Even loyal fans are likely to shrug at its vacuous mediocrity. So what hope is there for the rest of us?”

“That’s all Scream 7 is – the same old regurgitated slasher mush Hamburger Helper’d with a dash of AI. It’s a near-lethal dose of nostalgia to anesthetise sad, sad millennials.”

“Sluggish, unscary, and plagiaristic in not-ingenious ways, [Scream 7 is] definitive proof that it’s time to retire Ghostface and his gravely hackneyed games.”

“The elements were there for Scream 7 to be a classic Scream movie, one that centred on Sidney and hopefully avoided any awkwardness of it being a sort-of soft reboot to the reboot. But unfortunately what we’re left with is a sequel that is repetitive, bland and ultimately generic, possibly the worst thing for a Scream movie to be.”

“It’s not that Scream 7 is a bad Scream movie. There are no bad Scream movies (yet). Even the worst one is kind of alright, and this is the worst one. It just never seems like there was a story that needed to be told, or a point that needed to be made.”

“Scream 7 [is] an off-the-shelf, stock-itemed legacy sequel that previous Screams would’ve skewered for its timidity. A carbon copy of the original 1996 movie except where it counts, Scream 7 ultimately plays closer to other ’90s knockoffs that faded into obscurity. It’s the Halloween H20 of Scream movies, a heartless cash-grab sequel that brings back a genre legend in something that wants so badly to be Scream that it bleeds itself dry.”

“[Scream 7] does have surprises but they are quite tame by Scream standards. A smattering of inventive kills, for sure, the ever-reliable Courtney Cox in the fray as Gale Weathers, yes. But as for the several things some would probably call ‘spoilers’? None are that exciting, even if people might complain should they be mentioned here.

“While we’re in negative mode, let’s also be real – even for a horror film, the lighting is far too dark in almost every scene.”

“While it’s all entertaining enough – and there’s plenty of jumps and bloodshed – the story gets far too silly and misleading. It does what it says on the tin, but the mask has slipped a little.”

“It could be argued that a desire to respect a well-established template prevents Scream 7 from venturing too boldly into pastures new, opting instead to concentrate on tried and tested does-what-it-says-on-the-tin tropes, but the director deserves credit for the few occasions where he manages to add a modicum of spice to the formula of his 30-year-old ‘baby’.

“There are undeniable faults, plot holes and a dubious ending, although it’s still a crowd-pleaser executed with zest.”

“While the bar might be low outside of the franchise for not only a seventh slasher but a seventh of anything, the bar within it, for a Scream sequel is that much higher.

“There’s just about enough here to show signs of life (with tracking suggesting a huge opening, Scream 8 is an inevitability) but Williamson often feels like he’s treading water when he should be drawing blood.”

“With a fun script that takes nothing seriously, Scream 7 should be just the ticket to get fans psyched for the further adventures of Sidney Prescott and company.”

Scream 7 is in cinemas now.

Amanda Seyfried has suggested she didn’t feel wholly “appreciated” after auditioning numerous times to play Glinda in Wicked.

In a new interview with Radio Times, promoting her new religious musical The Testament Of Ann Lee, the Oscar nominee was asked about Wicked, and whether she was “over” auditioning six times for the role that eventually went to Ariana Grande.

“Everything happens for a reason,” she responded.

The Mamma Mia! star has been transparent about the hard work that went into auditioning for the role of Oz’s iconic good witch, and admitted there was one thing about the process that left a sour taste in her mouth.

“I wasn’t sad I didn’t get it, but I guess I wish it had been communicated to me in a better way. I don’t like to be in the dark about things,” she continued. “I like to feel appreciated.”

Amanda had previously told Backstage’s In the Envelope podcast that she had auditioned six times for Jon M Chu’s musical adaptation.

“I loved it. I was busy. I barely had time to do it, but I made it work. I worked my ass off for years and years and years on that music. I’m competitive… with myself in a really healthy way,” she explained.

Despite feeling underappreciated when auditioning for the role, it didn’t stop her family from loving the film and Ariana’s performance.

“It’s an extravaganza, which is what [Ariana] does really well. And [my kids] have been playing the soundtrack nonstop. And everything is as it’s meant to be for sure,” she told People last year.

Amanda first revealed she auditioned to play Glinda in 2022, telling Backstage that she had her sights set on musicals after disliking how she sounded in 2013’s Les Misérables.

“I think it taught me how far I’ve come as a singer, which I really wanted to prove. Because ever since Les Mis’ I was like, ‘I need to be better. I need to do better’. So whatever comes next in terms of musicals, I’m finally prepared,” she said.

While she may not have travelled to Oz with Wicked, she has been critically praised for her role as Ann Lee, the real-life originator of the Shakers’ religious movement in Mona Fastvold’s The Testament Of Ann Lee.

The Testament Of Ann Lee is out in UK cinemas now.