Get ready for a new nightmare when Freddy Kreuger returns to our screens!
HOLLYWOOD, CA – JANUARY 13: Actor Robert Englund poses with Freddy wax figure at the Hollywood Wax Mueum for the debut of the DVD release of “Freddy Vs. Jason” on January 13, 2004 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Stephen Shugerman/Getty Images)
Paramount Pictures has signed a deal for the U.S. rights to the original “Nightmare on Elm Street” screenplay, the movie written and directed by the late Wes Craven.
The studio is licensing the rights from the Craven estate, which includes his widow Iya Labunka and his son, Jonathan Craven. They’ll serve as producers the new version, along with Marc Toberoff.
“We look forward to bringing the world of Wes Craven’s ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ to a new and completely engaged generation of fans,” Labunka said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “We know that Wes would have been thrilled to see how horror is taking its long overdue place in the cultural canon. We can’t wait for all of us to sit together in a dark theatre – around the campfire of today – as the next chapter of the Nightmare story unfolds.”
PASADENA, CA – JULY 10: Director Wes Craven speaks during the 2006 Summer Television Critics Press Tour forthe Starz Entertainment Group at the Ritz Carlton Hotel on July 10, 2006 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
The original “Nightmare on Elm Street” premiered in 1984 and made an instant horror icon out of its terrifying killer, Freddy Kreuger, who attacks people in their dreams. The film starred Robert Englund as Kreuger, Heather Langenkamp as Nancy, and a young Johnny Depp in his film debut.
“Nightmare on Elm Street” kicked off a franchise that included seven sequels and a 2010 reboot, plus a TV series, and mountains of merchandise and appearances by Kreuger across the pop culture landscape.
American actor Robert Englund poses, in character as Freddy Krueger, New York, New York, circa 1986. (Photo by Larry Busacca/WireImage)
The new film will be part of Paramount Primal, a label within the larger studio led by J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules, the producers behind horror hits “Barbarian” and “Friendship.”
No word yet on casting or release date, but we can dream
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