I Know What You Did Last Summer turned a roughly $17 million budget into about $125 million worldwide, giving the late-’90s teen slasher revival another box-office hit after Scream. It reached U.S. theaters on October 17, 1997, took the top spot with roughly $15.8 million on its opening weekend and finished with about $72 million domestically.
The connection to Scream ran through screenwriter Kevin Williamson. With Jim Gillespie directing, Williamson adapted Lois Duncan’s 1973 novel for a cast led by Jennifer Love Hewitt as Julie James, Sarah Michelle Gellar as Helen Shivers, Freddie Prinze Jr. as Ray Bronson and Ryan Phillippe as Barry Cox.
Their characters share a secret: after hitting a pedestrian while driving home from a Fourth of July beach celebration, they throw the body into the ocean and agree to keep quiet. A year later, anonymous messages threaten to expose them, and a killer carrying a hook begins hunting them. Muse Watson plays Ben Willis, the Fisherman.
The film went into production quickly as studios pursued the audience Scream had helped bring back to slashers. Its mix of young stars, a shared cover-up and a recognizable killer became part of that horror cycle, even as critics gave it mixed reviews.
A direct-to-video follow-up in 2006 was followed by a TV series in 2021 and a legacy sequel in 2025, extending the franchise. The release with an anniversary today, November 13, is I Still Know What You Did Last Summer.
That sequel opened in 1998, sending Julie to the Bahamas for another round of killings. Made for about $24 million, it opened to roughly $16.5 million and earned about $40 million domestically.
