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The Studio Merger Settles the Fight Over Who Gets to Bring Freddy Back
Only one new trip to Springwood is still on the drawing board. Warner Bros.’ competing take on A Nightmare on Elm Street, which had Evil Dead Rise filmmaker Lee Cronin in talks to write and direct, has been shut down, Dread Central revealed in an exclusive today. That leaves Paramount Primal’s film, developed with the Wes Craven estate, as the sole Freddy Krueger feature moving forward.
The split came down to rights. In July, Paramount reached a deal with Craven’s estate for the U.S. rights to a new feature drawn from the late director’s original 1984 screenplay, while Warner Bros., whose New Line Cinema label launched the franchise, held on to the international rights. That arrangement set off a quiet race between the two studios, with Warner’s version only able to play outside the United States.
Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, completed on October 6, put both projects under the same corporate roof, and the Cronin film did not survive the consolidation. The remaining project is being produced by Iya Labunka, Jonathan Craven and Marc Toberoff, with Paramount Primal’s J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules on board as executive producers.
Despite earlier chatter, the new movie isn’t expected to be a scene-for-scene redo of the original. Paramount has described it as a story set in the world of A Nightmare on Elm Street and built on Craven’s original script, and no writer, director or cast has been announced so far.
Film: A Nightmare on Elm Street (new feature, in development)
Studio: Paramount Pictures / Paramount Primal
Based On: Wes Craven’s original 1984 screenplay
Producers: Iya Labunka, Jonathan Craven, Marc Toberoff
Executive Producers: J.D. Lifshitz, Raphael Margules
Release Date: TBA
Source: Reporting and confirmation via Dread Central.
