Courteney Cox is back for Scream 7, and fans are more than excited to see her back once again. Thirty years ago, Courteney Cox walked onto a movie set as Gale Weathers and never left.
On February 25, 2026, Cox hit the red carpet at Paramount Pictures Studios in Hollywood for the premiere of Scream 7, her seventh appearance in the franchise and the only actor besides voice artist Roger L. Jackson to appear in every single installment.
She wore a black slipdress with lace detailing at the neckline, a coordinated blazer, and pointed-toe black heels.
During a red carpet interview with Entertainment Tonight, the reporter noted that Gale would normally be the one holding the microphone.
Cox didn’t hesitate. She reached over, grabbed it, looked straight into the camera, and delivered an in-character greeting on the spot.
When told she had been called the glue of the franchise, Cox laughed. “It is interesting,” she said. “I have been called the glue or something — right — Gale Weathers is any sort of glue?”
How Old Is Courteney Cox?
Courteney Bass Cox was born June 15, 1964, in Birmingham, Alabama. She is 61 years old. She left Mount Vernon College in Washington D.C. before finishing an architecture degree to pursue modeling and acting in New York City.
She signed with the Ford Modeling Agency and started taking acting classes.
Her first break didn’t come from a casting director. It came from Brian De Palma, who handpicked her to dance onstage with Bruce Springsteen in the 1984 music video for Dancing in the Dark.
It was sixty seconds of screen time that put her face in front of millions of people.
Small television roles followed. She landed a recurring part as Michael J. Fox’s girlfriend on Family Ties from 1987 to 1989.
Then came Masters of the Universe in 1987, a film nobody remembers fondly, and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective alongside Jim Carrey in 1994, which people remember for Carrey rather than Cox.
None of it prepared Hollywood for what happened next.
In 1994, Cox was cast as Monica Geller in a new NBC sitcom called Friends. She was paid $22,500 per episode in season one. By seasons nine and ten she was earning $1 million per episode, making her the first female cast member offered that figure.
Over ten seasons and 236 episodes, Cox earned approximately $89 million in salary alone. The cast negotiated backend deals on syndication that continue paying each of them an estimated $20 million per year. Friends still generates over $1 billion annually for Warner Bros.
Remarkably, despite being one of the six leads of the most watched sitcom in television history, Cox never received a single Emmy nomination for the role. She remains the only principal cast member the Emmy voters overlooked for ten straight years.
Friends ended in 2004.
How Much Is Courteney Cox Worth?
She created and starred in Cougar Town from 2009 to 2015, earning a Golden Globe nomination and approximately $275,000 per episode.
She co-founded production company Coquette Productions with then-husband David Arquette. She starred in Shining Vale on Starz from 2022 to 2023. In 2023 she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Her net worth stands at an estimated $150 million.
The Scream Chapter
Two years into Friends, Cox took a role in a Wes Craven horror film about a masked killer terrorizing a small California town.
She was paid $1 million for the original Scream in 1996. The film grossed $173 million worldwide on a $15 million budget and changed the horror genre permanently.
She came back for Scream 2 in 1997 at $5 million. Scream 3 in 2000 at $7 million. Scream 4 in 2011 at $7 million.
She met and married David Arquette on the set of the original film. They divorced in 2013. She kept coming back to the franchise long after the marriage ended.
When the franchise rebooted in 2022, Cox returned again. When Neve Campbell skipped Scream VI in 2023 over a pay dispute, Cox showed up anyway.
Cox earned $2 million for Scream 7, less than she made on installments three and four, in a franchise now 30 years old.
The Road To The Premiere
Getting Scream 7 to that red carpet was not straightforward. Melissa Barrera, who starred in the previous two films, was fired over social media comments about the Israel-Hamas war.
Jenna Ortega dropped out due to scheduling conflicts with Netflix’s Wednesday. Director Christopher Landon exited in December 2023 following what he described as highly aggressive death threats.
The SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes delayed production further. Kevin Williamson, who wrote the original 1996 screenplay, stepped in to direct.
Neve Campbell confirmed her return as Sidney Prescott in March 2024 at a reported $7 million after sitting out Scream VI.
David Arquette, whose character Dewey Riley was killed off in Scream 5, returns through flashback sequences.
Matthew Lillard and Skeet Ulrich were on the red carpet alongside Cox.
Outside the premiere, pro-Palestinian protesters led by Entertainment Labor for Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace-Los Angeles marched calling for a boycott over Barrera’s firing.
Scream 7 opens in theaters February 27, 2026, including IMAX — a first for the franchise. Early tracking projected a mid-$30 million domestic opening. By premiere week that estimate had climbed to $40 million. Critics landed at 38% on Rotten Tomatoes and 39 out of 100 on Metacritic.
The franchise has earned over $900 million worldwide across seven films.
Cox has been in all seven.
