Jason Blum really wants both the “Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Friday the 13th” franchises under Blumhouse’s roof. The studio already has the rights to horror touchstones“Halloween” and “The Exorcist.” Blum even believes he could get actor Robert Englund to reprise his role as Freddy Krueger.
While promoting the company’s newest film “The Black Phone,” Blum indicated if he could get the rights to “Nightmare on Elm Street,” he believes he could get the beloved actor to come back to play Freddy. All this despite Englund saying multiple times over the years that his days of being the horror icon are probably behind him.
“I could make him come back.” He told Screen Rant. “I could get anyone back. I mean, Ellen Burstyn was 87, I got her back in The Exorcist.” Burstyn will reprise her role as Chris MacNeil in the upcoming three-film sequel to “The Exorcist.” Blum went on to point out that Englund is “75– he’s young!”
It has been several years since we’ve heard any rumblings about resurrecting the “Nightmare on Elm Street” franchise. Wes Craven’s estate was seeking pitches for a potential addition to the series in 2019. Fortunately for the estate, all the U.S. rights reverted back to them a few years ago. This gives a lot more freedom than other franchises to go where they’d like.
Craven created the character of Freddy, and wrote the screenplay for New Line Cinema. This arrangement left his estate as the sole owner of the U.S. rights to both. But New Line does retain international rights, which does complicate matters in terms of distribution. Blumhouse could certainly factor into this arrangement. But as of now, no deals or serious plans seem to be happening.
We’ll let you know what we hear about this and other news.
“The Black Phone,” based on a story by Joe Hill, stars Ethan Hawke and hits theaters on June 24th, 2022. You can catch Englund on season 4 of “Stranger Things,” exclusively on Netflix.
