Paramount Pictures has closed a deal for the rights to the original screenplay of A Nightmare on Elm Street, the movie famously written and directed by Wes Craven that kicked off the popular horror franchise featuring everyone’s favourite metal claw-gloved killer, Freddy Krueger.

The new iteration will hail from the studio’s new genre label, Paramount Primal, led by J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules, the producers behind Barbarian and Friendship.

The U.S. rights are being licensed from the Craven estate. Copyright law allows authors to reclaim rights 35 years after publication, hence why the Craven estate regained the rights to the Nightmare on Elm Street screenplay in 2019.

“We look forward to bringing the world of Wes Craven’s Nightmare on Elm Street to a new and completely engaged generation of fans,” said Craven’s widow, Iya Labunka, in a statement. “We know that Wes would have been thrilled to see how horror is taking its long overdue place in the cultural canon. We can’t wait for all of us to sit together in a dark theatre – around the campfire of today – as the next chapter of the Nightmare story unfolds.”  

Lifshitz and Margules stated, “We can’t remember a time before we were fans of Wes Craven. The fact that Iya and Jonathan have entrusted us with this opportunity to help usher a new story into this world is an honor beyond words. We look forward to working alongside them to bring a terrifying new nightmare to audiences everywhere, and to welcome Freddy home.”