Los Angeles, Jan 7 (IANS): The red carpet premiere for the fifth installment of the slasher film 'Scream' will not be having its red carpet premiere in Sydney over the Omicron outbreak.

Given the tidal wave of the Omicron Covid-19 variant, the event originally scheduled for January 11 will not proceed, a note to invited guests said on Thursday, reports variety.co.uk.

The premiere was expected to convene horror icons Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette with their supporting cast and filmmaker collective Radio Silence in Los Angeles.

Press- and radio-promoted screenings, as well as the wide theatrical release of the fifth title in the hit series created by Wes Craven, will still proceed on the big screen as planned.

'Scream' returns to the traumatised community of Woodsboro 25 years after a series of grisly murders inspired four sequels (and entered the ghostface-masked killer into the genre hall of fame).

Campbell, Cox and Arquette all reprise their original roles, alongside newcomers Melissa Barrera, Kyle Gallner, Mason Gooding, Mikey Madison, Dylan Minnette, Jenna Ortega, Jack Quaid, Marley Shelton, Jasmin Savoy Brown and Sonia Ammar.

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, aka Radio Silence, are directing. Campbell spoke openly about her hesitance to return for a new film, but a letter from the directors sealed the deal.

"They actually wrote me a letter and they said they basically are directors because of (the 'Scream') films," Campbell told Variety.

"They are directors because of Wes Craven and they're really so excited to be a part of these films and what an honour it is to do them, and that they really want to do justice to Wes and honour his legacy."

Original writer Kevin Williamson, Chad Villella, Gary Barber, Peter Oillataguerre, Ron Lynch, Cathy Konrad and Marianne Maddalena are executive producers. William Sherak, James Vanderbilt and Paul Neinstein produced the project, which is slated to open wide on January 14.