Just likeFriday the 13th,A Nightmare on Elm Streetis a horror franchise that has been lost in development hell for quite some time. There have been efforts to rebootthe adventures of Freddy Krueger, but New Line Cinema, the production studio in charge of the IP, hasn’t moved forward with a new revival, mainly due to complex rights issues. However, according to a New Line boss, there’s still hope to reboot the franchise.
Just don’t expect this to happen any time soon. New Line Cinema President Richard Brener hopes that we will see Freddy back on screens, but also admitted how complicated it is. PerThe Hollywood Reporter,the New Line boss answered a few questions during CinemaCon about the horror IPs currently hosted by the studio. When asked aboutA Nightmare on Elm Street, he sounded optimistic, but he didn’t have any good news about the project.
We hope so. It’s complicated because of the rights.
The Only ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ Movie Roger Ebert Actually Liked
Famed critic Roger Ebert wasn’t a fan of the ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ franchise, but ‘Wes Craven’s New Nightmare’ may be the exception.
In 2019, the rights to the franchise reverted to Wes Craven’s estate, as 35 years have passed since 1984’sA Nightmare on Elm Streetwas released. However, New Line Cinema and, therefore, Warner Bros. still hold the international rights. We won’t dig into the legal jargon, but Brener said it himself when he described the situation as “complicated.” For now, we’ll have to stick to theories and speculations about who could play Freddy, what story could be revisited, and who could direct such a delicate project.
‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ Has Already Been Remade But the Results Were Far From Good
By the end of the 2000s, the horror remake craze was unstoppable. Many horror franchises of the 1970s and 1980s had been revisited in some way, with modern revivals coming in all shapes and sizes. The results were almost always not good, with a few exceptions to the rule. Michael Bay even created a company that solely produced these kinds of projects. Platinum Dunes was its name, and today, it is equivalent to cinematic sin in horror circles.
2010 was the year Freddy Krueger returned to theaters and the last time the character would show his face on the big screen. Franchise icons Robert Englund and Heather Langenkamp were nowhere to be seen, and instead, we got a slick version ofA Nightmare on Elm Street. Samuel Bayer, the music video director behind Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Green Day and Marilyn Manson videos, was convinced to do the project when producers let him know that he could explore a grittier and darker version of thefranchise with the deadly nightmares. Enter a few young stars, and the remake landed in theaters with the hype of fans who knew they would see Freddy wielding his sharp glove once again.
The result was disastrous. Sure, the movie made over $117 million at the box office, but the critical reception was anything but good. It still holds a 14% score on Rotten Tomatoes, and it has become an indelible stain - and that is afterFreddy’s Dead! The 2010 remake ofA Nightmare on Elm Streetis likely the reason why everyone’s afraid of reviving the character again. While rights issues are one thing, the biggest problem with the franchise is that, for the vast majority of people, Robert Englund is Freddy Krueger, and that is all she wrote.
Source:The Hollywood Reporter
A Nightmare on Elm Street
