# I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
**I Still Know What You Did Last Summer** is a 1998 American slasher film, the first sequel to *I Know What You Did Last Summer* (1997), directed by Danny Cannon and written by Trey Callaway. [Jennifer Love Hewitt](https://www.edgepedia.org/jennifer-love-hewitt) and [Freddie Prinze Jr.](https://www.edgepedia.org/freddie-prinze-jr) reprise their roles as surviving teens Julie James and Ray Bronson, who are stalked again by the hook-wielding fisherman Ben Willis ([Muse Watson](https://www.edgepedia.org/muse-watson)), this time at a resort in the Bahamas[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60986) • [2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0130018/). Sony Pictures released it theatrically in the United States on November 13, 1998[2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0130018/).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | United States theatrical release November 13, 1998, wide, distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing[2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0130018/) |
| Director / writer | Danny Cannon; screenplay by Trey Callaway[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60986) |
| Principal cast | Jennifer Love Hewitt (Julie James), Freddie Prinze Jr. (Ray Bronson), Brandy (Karla Wilson), Mekhi Phifer (Tyrell), Matthew Settle (Will Benson), Muse Watson (Ben Willis, the fisherman)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60986) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/i_still_know_what_you_did_last_summer) |
| Setting | An island resort in the Bahamas, during storm season, where Julie again receives threatening signs that Ben Willis is alive[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/i_still_know_what_you_did_last_summer) |
| Box office | $40,002,112 domestic per Box Office Mojo (The Numbers lists $40,020,622); opening weekend $16,520,038[2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0130018/) • [4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/I-Still-Know-What-You-Did-Last-Summer) |
| Critical reception | 10% Tomatometer from 61 reviews and 29% Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes; Metascore 21 on Metacritic[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/i_still_know_what_you_did_last_summer) • [5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/i-still-know-what-you-did-last-summer/critic-reviews/) |
| Rating and length | MPAA R, roughly 101 minutes[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60986) |
## Spoilers
### Story and production
The film picks up a year after the events of the 1997 film, in which four teenagers had run over the vengeful fisherman Ben Willis and left him for dead. Julie James is now a college student still haunted by the experience. Her roommate Karla (Brandy) wins an all-expenses-paid vacation for four to the Bahamas, and the group travels to an island resort, where Julie begins receiving threatening notes and realizes Ben is still alive[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/i_still_know_what_you_did_last_summer). [Sony Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/sony-pictures)' own synopsis describes the returning antagonist plainly: Ben Willis, the man in the slicker with a hook, is back, and "it's hard to forget a man who refuses to die"[6](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/istillknowwhatyoudidlastsummer).
Production was led by Mandalay Entertainment, with distribution through [Columbia Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/columbia-pictures)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60986). The credited producers were [Neal H. Moritz](https://www.edgepedia.org/neal-h-moritz), Erik Feig, Stokely Chaffin, and William S. Beasley; Vernon Layton was the cinematographer, Peck Prior the editor, Doug Kraner the production designer, and John Frizzell the composer[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60986) • [2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0130018/). AFI records the film as a co-production of the United States, Germany, and Mexico[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60986).
The original film's director Jim Gillespie and writer Kevin Williamson did not return. Neither Cannon nor Callaway had been involved with the first installment; Williamson had written the 1997 screenplay and *Scream*, and contemporary reviewers noted his absence as a loss for the sequel[7](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1998/11/13/we-dont-care-what-you-did-last-summer/21a241df-a683-4512-a877-e34acb62bcba).
### Place in the franchise
*I Still Know What You Did Last Summer* is the second of four theatrical entries in the series. It was followed in 2006 by *[I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer](https://www.edgepedia.org/ill-always-know-what-you-did-last-summer)*, a direct-to-video installment with a new cast set in [Broken Ridge](https://www.edgepedia.org/broken-ridge), Colorado[11](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/illalwaysknowwhatyoudidlastsummer) • [12](https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/know-did-last-summer-sequel-221035525.html), and by the 2025 legacy sequel *I Know What You Did Last Summer*, which brings back Hewitt and Prinze Jr. and is a continuation of the 1998 film[13](https://time.com/7303282/i-know-what-you-did-last-summer-ending-explained/). That 2025 film's mid-credits scene has Julie visiting Karla Wilson, played again by Brandy, to enlist her help against future attacks, confirming the 1998 film's continuing place in the canon[13](https://time.com/7303282/i-know-what-you-did-last-summer-ending-explained/). The franchise also includes a 2021 television series adaptation of Lois Duncan's 1973 novel, which was the basis of the 1997 film but not of the sequels' Bahamian storyline[14](https://www.sonypictures.com/tv/iknowwhatyoudidlastsummer).
A thread of retrospective commentary treats the film as a cult curiosity: reviewers in later years have described it as "dumb fun", praising Brandy's Karla and the higher body count, even while conceding the film's structural weaknesses[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/i_still_know_what_you_did_last_summer). Sony Pictures has kept it in circulation on Digital, 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD[6](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/istillknowwhatyoudidlastsummer).
## Box office
The film opened wide in 2,443 theaters on November 13, 1998, earning $16,520,038 in its first weekend, which was 41.3 percent of its eventual domestic total[4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/I-Still-Know-What-You-Did-Last-Summer). [Box Office Mojo](https://www.edgepedia.org/box-office-mojo) records a domestic gross of $40,002,112 and a worldwide figure of $40,003,659, with essentially no international play recorded on that site[2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0130018/); The Numbers gives a slightly higher domestic total of $40,020,622[4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/I-Still-Know-What-You-Did-Last-Summer). The two services also disagree on the production budget: Box Office Mojo lists $65,000,000[2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0130018/), while The Numbers lists $24,000,000[4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/I-Still-Know-What-You-Did-Last-Summer). The domestic total was well below the original film's 1997 gross of $72,586,134 in the United States[8](https://boxofficemadness.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/annual-us-top-film-grosses-1980-2016-sample-page.pdf).
## Critical reception
The sequel was received far more negatively than the original. On Rotten Tomatoes it holds a 10% Tomatometer from 61 reviews, with a critics consensus calling it "boring, predictable, and bereft of thrills or chills", against a 29% Popcornmeter audience score from more than 250,000 ratings[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/i_still_know_what_you_did_last_summer). Metacritic assigned it a Metascore of 21, with 15 of 19 collected critic reviews negative[5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/i-still-know-what-you-did-last-summer/critic-reviews/).
Roger Ebert's review, published November 13, 1998, described the film as assembling "the building blocks of idiot-proof slasher movies" and said it contained "no characters of any interest, no dialogue worth hearing, no originality of conception"[9](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/i-still-know-what-you-did-last-summer-1998). The *Washington Post* wrote that the film "begins with (and feels like) a bad dream and concludes with an idiotic setup for yet another sequel", contrasting its body-count approach with the plot complexity of the original[7](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1998/11/13/we-dont-care-what-you-did-last-summer/21a241df-a683-4512-a877-e34acb62bcba). Not all responses were hostile: *Variety*'s Leonard Klady wrote that while purists would find the film obvious, it "delivers a sufficient shock quotient to satisfy its youthful target audience"[5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/i-still-know-what-you-did-last-summer/critic-reviews/).
Freddie Prinze Jr. has said he has never seen the film because of its reputation following the negative critical reaction at release[10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0130018/).
## References
1. [I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60986)
2. [I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0130018/)
3. [I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/i_still_know_what_you_did_last_summer)
4. [I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998), Box Office Information, The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/I-Still-Know-What-You-Did-Last-Summer)
5. [I Still Know What You Did Last Summer Critic Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/i-still-know-what-you-did-last-summer/critic-reviews/)
6. [I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, Sony Pictures Entertainment](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/istillknowwhatyoudidlastsummer)
7. [We Don't Care What You Did Last Summer, The Washington Post (November 12, 1998)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1998/11/13/we-dont-care-what-you-did-last-summer/21a241df-a683-4512-a877-e34acb62bcba)
8. [Annual US Top Film Grosses, 1980–2016 (Box Office Madness sample page)](https://boxofficemadness.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/annual-us-top-film-grosses-1980-2016-sample-page.pdf)
9. [I Still Know What You Did Last Summer movie review by Roger Ebert, November 13, 1998](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/i-still-know-what-you-did-last-summer-1998)
10. [I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0130018/)
11. [I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer, Sony Pictures Entertainment](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/illalwaysknowwhatyoudidlastsummer)
12. ['I Know What You Did Last Summer' sequel casts Freddie Prinze Jr.: What we know so far, Yahoo Entertainment](https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/know-did-last-summer-sequel-221035525.html)
13. [Breaking Down the Brutal Ending of the New I Know What You Did Last Summer, TIME](https://time.com/7303282/i-know-what-you-did-last-summer-ending-explained/)
14. [I Know What You Did Last Summer (TV series), Sony Pictures Entertainment](https://www.sonypictures.com/tv/iknowwhatyoudidlastsummer)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Horror films (individual works)*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license