Earlier this summer, we learned Paramount was looking to spin up a new Nightmare on Elm Street movie. What we didn’t know until recently is that another movie is coming—from Warner Bros., the studio Paramount’s currently fixing to buy.
See, according to Puck News, WB has the franchise’s international rights, while Paramount holds domestic rights. Sources speaking to Puck speculate Paramount wanted their Nightmare in active development around the time it’d have become WB’s latest parent and use the new subsidiary to bring it overseas. WB’s Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy reportedly didn’t like that strategy when they heard it, and are now doing their own Nightmare with director/writer Lee Cronin, late of his The Mummy movie. It’s said Paramount doesn’t have a director or writer locked down yet, just “eager candidates” to choose from.
Paramount, for its part, told Puck it “negotiated independently” for domestic rights to the original Nightmare’s screenplay. And unlike WB, it’s allegedly got the blessing of Wes Craven’s estate, something it could easily leverage in press. WB reportedly tried for the same, but didn’t want to share a “very aggressive backend split” with the rights holders. (That’d be Craven’s widow Iya Labunka, son Jon, and attorney Marc Toberoff, who’ll produce Paramount’s Nightmare.)
Both studios want these films out the door, since either could be the first new Nightmare on Elm Street since the maligned 2010 reboot. Warner Bros. may not have Craven backing, but it thinks it’s got more room to play around, since Paramount’s effectively locked into a shot-for-shot remake. As for Paramount, it wants to do its “fucking damnedest” to beat WB to the punch—and we’ll update you when it’s time to learn who comes out on top.
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