Paramount Pictures has reportedly closed a deal for a new take on Wes Craven’s “A Nightmare on Elm Street” franchise to be released via its new Paramount Primal genre label.
The deal is for the U.S. rights to Craven’s original screenplay for the 1984 first film, which kicked off a franchise spanning eight films in total, at least two of which are highly regarded, along with one not well-received remake in 2010.
Producers J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules (“Barbarian”) lead the new label and will executive produce. Craven’s widow Iya Labunka, and son Jonathan Craven, will produce along with Marc Toberoff.
New Line Cinema previously held all the rights to the franchise, but copyright law allows authors to reclaim rights 35 years after publication. The Craven estate regained the rights to the screenplay in 2019, but New Line retains the international rights.
What form this new take will have is unclear beyond it being “set in the world of A Nightmare on Elm Street, based on the original screenplay”. In a statement, Labunka calls it the “next chapter of the Nightmare story”.
Lifshitz and Margules say it’s a “new story” in this world, and this will be a “terrifying new nightmare” to “welcome Freddy home”.
Source: THR
