The Nightmare on Elm Street franchise is currently sleeping, but you can expect New Line to wake it up sometime soon. The series, which helped save the once-floundering studio from financial ruin, will launch yet another remake…eventually. That’s what screenwriter David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick claims, at least. For now, though, New Line is more focused on their profitable Conjuring franchise. More on the inevitable new Nightmare on Elm Street remake below.
In 2010, New Line Cinema teamed with Platinum Dunes to get in on the horror remake trend with a Nightmare on Elm Street remake. The results were abysmal. While the film did well at the box office, audiences – especially Nightmare fans – were not impressed. Despite some talk of a sequel, a follow-up adventure for Jackie Earle Haley’s new and un-improved Freddy Krueger never materialized. Since then, there have been rumblings of yet another remake. In 2015, Orphan screenwriter David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick was tapped to pen a new remake, but all has been quiet on the Freddy front since then.
But now we have an update from Johnson-McGoldrick, who is out making the rounds promoting his script for Aquaman. Speaking with Gamespot, Johnson-McGoldrick said: “It’s still happening,” but quickly added: “Nothing is percolating just yet…The Conjuring universe is sort of first and foremost on [New Line Cinema’s] horror burner.”
The Conjuring franchise has been very profitable for New Line, primarily because the films are relatively cheap to produce. They’re so cheap, in fact, that they almost always make their budget back come opening weekend. With that in mind, it makes sense that New Line is more focused on pumping out Conjuring sequels at the moment.
That said, Universal and Blumhouse just had a huge hit in the form of Halloween, David Gordon Green’s reboot/sequel to the previously-dormant franchise. The Halloween success suggests audiences are still hungry for classic horror movie characters to return, and bringing back Freddy Krueger seems like a no-brainer.
Whenever New Line gets around to making a new Nightmare, they would be wise to emulate the Halloween model, and bring back a familiar face. Namely, Robert Englund, the original Freddy Kreuger. In the past, Englund has commented that his days of playing Freddy are likely over due to his age. But he’s somewhat changed his tune recently, saying he’d like to come back at least one more time. Englund also returned to the role in a recent Halloween episode of The Goldbergs, and proved he could still play the part with ease. Honestly, Englund’s age shouldn’t be a factor here – the extensive burn make-up the character is buried in can easily cover that up. If the actor is game to return one more time, New Line would be wise to listen.
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