Why Robert Englund Believes The Nightmare On Elm Street Franchise Is Still On Hold

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It's been a full 15 years since a new "Nightmare on Elm Street" movie graced the silver screen, dating back to the 2010 remake of Wes Craven's seminal 1984 horror classic. Similarly, the last time Robert Englund suited up as Freddy Krueger was in 2018 for an episode of "The Goldbergs." It's been slim pickins' for quite a while. So, what's the hold up? Englund has offered up an explanation, from his point of view.

The actor has finally gotten a much-deserved star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in no small part thanks to his two-decade run on-screen as Freddy in the "Elm Street" franchise. During an interview with IndieWire in honor of the event, Englund addressed the lack of movement on a new movie. The way he told it, much of that has to do with rights issues, which became more complex after Craven passed away in 2015. Here's what Englund had to say on the matter:

"There are so many people involved who have a piece of the action. When Wes passed away, he left an awful lot of rights to his estate. He has many, many rights that he worked out between character titles and names and plot and things like that. New Line Cinema obviously has a big hand in it. And much of that was surrendered to Ted Turner, then went to Warner Bros. So, Warner Bros. has a huge piece of it. I know Michael Bay had been involved with some interest and also Blumhouse."

Englund has made it clear that he won't play Freddy again, at least not in live-action, largely because he's aged out of the role. So, it's not as though he'd likely be directly involved. All the same, he does have more insight into this than the average Joe.

Rights issues also held up the "Friday the 13th" franchise for more than 15 years after the 2009 remake, which was a financial success. But getting multiple parties to cooperate can be tricky. In this case, it sounds like Craven's estate, Warner Bros., and Michael Bay's production company Platinum Dunes, and potentially others, might have to come to the table to make something happen in this case.

Englund mentioned Blumhouse because the studio's head, Jason Blum, would love to make a new "Elm Street" movie. Wanting is one thing, though. Making it happen? That's another. There's been talk of rebooting "Nightmare on Elm Street" again dating back to 2015. Nothing has materialized, however, and, rights issues aside, the creative element is tricky.

2010's "A Nightmare on Elm Street Remake" was very much maligned, but it also made $117 million at the box office against a $35 million budget, meaning it was a success. For his part, Englund doesn't blame the remake, which starred Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy, for killing the franchise. At the same time, he believes it was too early to do such a thing. As Englund noted in the same interview:

"I think the remake was premature. I love a lot of the actors in the movie, so I'm not going to say anything bad about it, I just think the timing was off."

For now, the future of the property remains uncertain. In the meantime, Warner Bros. has released the original seven "Elm Street" movies on 4K. It feels inevitable that Freddy will return, but until then it seems he's trapped in a twisted web of competing interests.

You can grab the "A Nightmare on Elm Street: 7-Film Collection" on 4K from Amazon.