Freddy Krueger Returns: Paramount Confirms the Reboot of 'Nightmare on Elm Street'

Paramount is moving forward with a new version of “Nightmare on Elm Street”. The studio has secured the rights to the original script by Wes Craven to develop a reinvention of the horror classic.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the new movie will be produced under the genre label Paramount Primal, led by J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules. No screenwriter or director has been confirmed for the project yet.

Who will produce the new Freddy Krueger movie

The widow of Wes Craven, Iya Labunka, and his son, Jonathan Craven, will be part of the production along with Marc Toberoff. The family of the original director will maintain an active role in the development of the film.

“We know that Wes would have been thrilled to see how horror is finally taking its rightful place in the cultural canon”, Labunka expressed in a statement.

What the producers of Paramount Primal said

Lifshitz and Margules also referred to the project in a joint statement. “We can’t remember a time when we haven’t been fans of Wes Craven”, they noted about the new phase of Nightmare on Elm Street.

The producers added that they aim to “welcome Freddy back” with this new proposal for the franchise.

When was the last Nightmare on Elm Street movie

It has been 16 years since the last film in the saga, which received negative reviews and had modest box office performance. Since then, Freddy Krueger has not appeared on the big screen.

During the 2010s, there were attempts to revive the character, but they did not succeed. Screenwriter David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, who worked on a canceled reboot, noted that New Line Cinema prioritized the development of the “The Conjuring” saga and sidelined the Freddy project.

The return of 80s horror icons

In addition to this new version of Nightmare on Elm Street, a new “Friday the 13th” movie is also in development, although details about its content are still unknown.

The studios aim to bring back the main figures of 80s horror, with Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees as the protagonists of this resurgence of the genre.