As any midnight marauder or horror hound would tell you, A Nightmare on Elm Street’s legal limbo is not a fun place to be. With almost two decades separating the Jackie Earle Haley-led remake and the present day, the town of Springwood, Ohio has been deathly quiet for some time now.
However, today is a new day for everyone, even Freddy Krueger! Thanks to a new announcement that’s making the rounds, the Nightmare seems to live again. What’s more, the parties that are fitting the next Freddy for his ugly Christmas sweater could do a lot more for the world of horror – thanks to some very unique history.
Paramount Pictures And New Line Cinema Share Joint Custody Of Freddy Krueger
Through the efforts of several key players, A Nightmare on Elm Street seems to have found its way out of legal hell. The deal that bridges this gap sees Paramount Pictures, via its new genre imprint Paramount Primal, licensing the domestic rights to the original screenplay from Wes Craven’s estate.
As for the international rights, those remain at “the house that Freddy built,” New Line Cinema. Speaking to the matter in a statement (via THR) Craven’s widow, Iya Labunka, gave this encouraging update:
We look forward to bringing the world of Wes Craven’s Nightmare on Elm Street to a new and completely engaged generation of fans. 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.
Two other key parties to this Nightmare resurgence are Barbarian producers J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules. As the overseers of Paramount Primal, they will executive produce the new misadventures of Freddy Krueger
We can’t remember a time before we were fans of Wes Craven. The fact that Iya and Jonathan have entrusted us with this opportunity to help usher a new story into this world is an honor beyond words. We look forward to working alongside them to bring a terrifying new nightmare to audiences everywhere, and to welcome Freddy home.
Serving as producers for the grand return of A Nightmare on Elm Street are Iya Labunka, son Jonathan Craven, and “attorney-turned-producer” Marc Toberoff. That last person is a pretty important piece to the puzzle, as Toberoff sits in a pretty unique position in horror history.
Why Freddy Krueger’s Cinematic Return Has Taken So Long
A Nightmare on Elm Street fiends know the story, but for the new folks in the crowd, allow me to explain. The big reason we haven’t seen Freddy Krueger on the big screen for some time is a good, old fashioned nemesis: right issues.
More specifically, it’s Wes Craven’s original screenplay that was key to those woes. That sort of fight is something Marc Toberoff is familiar as you’ll read in this exerpt from THR’s report:
Copyright law allows authors to reclaim rights 35 years after publication, which has been used by screenwriters and their estates to regain their works. The Craven estate regained the rights to the screenplay in 2019 with the help of [Marc] Toberoff, who also regained the rights to another horror franchise, the original screenplay of Friday the 13th by Victor Miller.
This is where Mr. Toberoff’s place in horror history comes into play, as the similarly embattled Friday the 13th series also sees his name and efforts connected to its current state of stasis. Which brings me to a scenario I think we’ll be hearing a lot of people speculating on, as we make the march towards A Nightmare on Elm Street’s hypothetical reboot.
Could Freddy Krueger’s Escape From Legal Hell See Him Fight Jason Voorhees Again?
What’s better than bringing back A Nightmare on Elm Street? Try assembling a playground of horror legends scrapping for another fight. It almost feels like the recent debut of Peacock’s latest Crystal Lake trailer was pretty perfect timing; as I feel Friday the 13th is just waiting to make its own return – setting the stage for a new Freddy vs. Jason canon.
The other major franchise that’s been languishing in red tape, Friday’s rights were so complicated that at one point New Line Cinema had its own claim to that legacy. That story gets a bit complicated, so you can head over to my archival piece over at CinemaBlend to read more about it. But if Marc Toberoff could bring everyone together to resurrect Freddy Krueger, perhaps there’s hope for Jason Voorhees’ cinematic return after all.
Depending, of course, on whether or not that Friday the 13th prequel series lives up to the hype. For now, A Nightmare on Elm Street is currently roaming the halls of Paramount Pictures, looking to scare up a crew to bring it back from the dead. As for Crystal Lake, the A24 produced series can be seen on Peacock – starting October 15th. If you want to learn all the gory details about either of these titans of terror, keep a browser tab open to THS Horror. Until next time…sweet dreams.
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