A Freddy Krueger Comeback

Wed., Jan. 30, 2008 1:57 PM PST by Josh Grossberg

Wake the kiddies, a new Nightmare is on the way.

New Line Cinema is in negotiations with director Michael Bay's production company to hatch a new film series based on Wes Craven's classic 1984 horror flick, A Nightmare on Elm Street.

The resurrection of Freddy Krueger, the fedora-favoring, razor-gloved haunter of teen dreams, has been a priority for New Line for quite some time, according to the Hollywood trades.

Before Lord of the Rings came along, Elm Street was the studio's most lucrative property, generating more than $300 million in total ticket sales, per Box Office Mojo.

With The Hobbit prequels still two to three years away, New Line is looking to revive that old Elm Street revenue stream.

The horror franchise included eight films and spawned two TV series.

Before 2003's comedic Freddy vs. Jason smackdown, which generated about $83 million domestically, Krueger last donned the claws for 1994's New Nightmare, in which Freddy returns to haunt the dreams of Craven and original Nightmare star Heather Langenkamp.

No word whether Robert Englund will reprise his role as the iconic Krueger, a character that ranked 40th in AFI's countdown of the top 50 movie villains of all time. The 59-year-old actor continues to remain active, appearing in television, numerous B-movies and lending his voice to such animated series as Batman and Justice League.

It's also unclear whether the filmmakers will pick up where the old Nightmares left off or whether the new film will be a complete reboot. Scribes will not be assigned to work on the project until after the writers' strike is over.

A deal with Bay's Platinum Dunes seems a good fit. The banner, run by Bay and partners Brad Fuller and Andrew Form, has had a solid box-office track record when it comes to remaking memorable scarefests on the cheap, including recent redos of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Amityville Horror and The Hitcher.

Platinum Dunes is currently working on a project involving Krueger's erstwhile sparring partner, Jason Voorhees, in a new Friday the 13th movie for New Line. Marcus Nispel, who helmed The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, has been tapped to direct from a script by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift (Freddy vs. Jason).

In keeping with the regurgitating theme, the Platinum Dunes pipeline also includes a new version of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds for Universal, directed by Martin Campbell (Casino Royale) and starring Naomi Watts, and a remake of Kathryn Bigelow's 1987 cult vampire flick, Near Dark.