Freddy Krueger can’t be stopped. It doesn’t matter how many dream warriors, dream masters, dream children, and Jason Voorheeses you throw at him; he’ll just wait until you nod off in Algebra II. And now, according to The Tracking Board, New Line is ready to further drive down property values in the fictional town of Springwood by bringing Freddy back for another Nightmare On Elm Street reboot.
Despite making over $100 million worldwide on a $35 million budget, the 2010 reboot was generally panned by Freddy’s fans, who probably wanted to spend less time picturing Jackie Earle Haley molesting children. New Line has taken note of the objection, and is promising a “fresh new take” this time around. That could mean Freddy gives up the thankless workaday grind of dream-killing children, renovates a taco truck, and spends the next four movies winning over uppity food critics with deceptively simple, authentic Cuban cuisine. More likely, “fresh new take” means just going back to the stuff that people liked about Robert Englund’s Freddy, like cracking terrible puns while murdering blemish-free, sexually active teenagers who can’t muster the attention needed to stay awake through Western Civ.
Tasked with thinking outside of the “knife-glove/striped sweater/fedora” box is screenwriter David Leslie Johnson, who is also writing the script for Warner Bros.’ new Dungeons & Dragons movie. Toby Emmerich, Walter Hamada, and Dave Neustadter are producing the project for New Line.